From January 1, 2018, in the Russian Federation it will be prohibited to use mobile messengers anonymously

Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika today announced that from January 1, 2018, Russia will not be allowed to use mobile messengers anonymously. “The services of instant messaging will be provided exclusively to users identified by the subscriber number and the corresponding agreement,” he said.

In addition to identification, from the new year in the Russian Federation criminal penalties are introduced for unlawful access to the control systems of the nuclear and chemical industries, energy, the military-industrial complex and other important industries, Interfax reports.

"From January 1, 2018, changes will come into force establishing criminal liability for unlawful access to the critical information structure of the Russian Federation, process control systems in the nuclear and chemical industries, energy, defense industry and others," Chaika said on the 15th meeting of prosecutors general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
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Also, the head of the supervisory authority noted that as early as November 1 of this year, a law came into force, which prohibits owners of Internet services from providing the opportunity to use them to gain access to sites from the list of blocked Roskomnadzor resources. For these purposes, the “Unified Automated Registry of Domain Names” is used; it accumulates information about such resources.

For example, according to statements by prosecutors, by court decision, materials related to such topics as tactics of sabotage activities, methods of making and using explosive devices, weapons, etc. are removed from the network.

“All the measures I have listed in the aggregate make it possible to achieve concrete positive results,” the Attorney General said. He also added that instant messaging services will be provided only to users who are identified on the basis of the subscriber number and the corresponding contract.