MOSCOW, August 9 /TASS/. Supporters of Russian opposition figurehead Alexey Navalny rallied against the Yarovaya anti-terror package on Tuesday at a rally sanctioned by the Moscow authorities.

Navalny, the leader of Russia’s unregistered Progress Party, and other speakers, including blogger Anton Nosik and deputy candidates to State Duma Nikolai Lyaskin and Konstantin Yankauskas, spoke against the laws, which, they said, were increasing control over the Internet.

One of Navalny’s closest aides Leonid Volkov said it was good that the "Yarovaya Package" in part of the Internet would come into force only in 2018. "It is good news because the fight is just starting. The law in part of the Internet will come into force only in 18 months. It means that we still have 18 months for waging a huge and meaningful political campaign, which we have just launched," Volkov said.

The rally, which had been sanctioned by the Moscow authorities, ended without incidents.

"Yarovaya Package" laws 

The "Yarovaya Package" was developed by lower house deputy and member of the ruling United Russia party Irina Yarovaya jointly with Senator Viktor Ozerov.

From July 1, 2018, the "Yarovaya Package" laws will bind telecommunications operators to store data about reception, transmission, delivery and processing of voice and text messages, images, sounds and video for three years. The "heaviest" files - the content of messages, images, sounds and video - operators must store for six months. They are obliged to provide all this information on-demand to security services.

In addition to telecommunication operators, the law also obliges Internet companies to store certain data. In particular, they will be required to store information about data transmission facts and data about users for one year.