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State Duma passes bill giving FSB power to turn off telecom services

The reasons for the shutdown will be set by the government

© Sergey Bulkin/TASS

MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. The State Duma has approved a bill allowing the FSB to force operators to disconnect telecom services in Russia in the cases approved by the government.

The government submitted the bill in November, and it was adopted in the first reading at the end of January.

The draft proposes to amend the law "On Communications" to say that operators will not be held liable for communication outages if ordered by the FSB to pull the plug. The bill also states that the government will outline the situations under which the FSB will be granted this power.

During the first reading the bill said that operators would have to disconnect communications at the request of the FSB, but by the second reading, the request wording was changed to "requirement." Besides, the document previously suggested that communications would be disconnected only to ensure the safety of the public. The new version states that the reasons for the shutdown will be set by the government.

If the law is signed by the president, it will enter into force 10 days after its publication.

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