Draft First minutes: what human rights defenders usually advise
Phone checks
Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.
With grounds, officers may search you (art. 27.7 CAO), but may seize a phone only with a written record. The law does not expressly require you to unlock it or give a passcode (pending legal review).
Since 2025 border guards have been allowed to 'inspect' devices. According to media reports, the FSB says refusal can mean a fine or up to 15 days' detention. We have not seen the original source and practice is still unclear, so check with a lawyer.
There have been cases over phone contents: 'searching for extremist materials' (art. 13.53 CAO), Telegram 'stars' sent to channels designated as terrorist, donations to Ukrainian medics.
Prepare a phone for travel weeks in advance. It should look ordinary: apps, photos, chat history. An empty phone raises questions. Turn off biometrics and use disappearing messages. Remove subscriptions and donation screenshots well in advance, not just before the border. If a case has already been opened against you, don't delete anything without a lawyer. Bank and cloud records remain.
Draft First minutes: what human rights defenders usually advise
Messaging, VPNs and blocking in 2026
Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.
WhatsApp, Signal and Viber are blocked in Russia. In 2026 Telegram was blocked in Russia and in places works intermittently. Mobile internet gets shut down. Save your lawyer's and rights groups' contacts outside Telegram in advance: email, Delta Chat, phone.
By law using a VPN is not banned. In practice, since 1 September 2025 art. 13.53 CAO fines people for deliberately searching for material on the extremist list, including through a VPN. Don't forward links to VPNs or VPN bots in chats: this can be treated as advertising tools for bypassing blocks (art. 14.3 CAO), and people are fined for it.
Blocking comes in waves, so specialists advise keeping two or three VPNs of different types and updating them in advance, not when the shutdown hits.
The state messenger MAX has no end-to-end encryption, so don't discuss anything sensitive on it. A school cannot make you install MAX.
Detailed guides: First Line (digital security section) and EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense in Russian.
Draft First minutes: what human rights defenders usually advise
Travelling back to Russia: assessing the risks
Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.
Check yourself: a criminal-record certificate via Gosuslugi, the police wanted list, the bailiffs' database, the Rosfinmonitoring list, the draft register, court websites. More in 'Check yourself'. Note that the authorities can see when you log in to Gosuslugi.
Think about what could be used against you: donations to 'undesirable' or 'extremist' organisations or the Ukrainian army, posts with banned symbols, subscriptions to banned channels.
You can be named a suspect at any moment, including at the border. Human rights groups advise travelling with an ordinary phone prepared in advance, with a safe history, and arranging contact with a lawyer beforehand. Agree a check-in call with someone outside Russia.
At the border you'll be asked about your trip, job, relatives in Ukraine and view of the war, and devices may be inspected. If detained, ask your status, demand a lawyer, invoke art. 51 of the Constitution.
Men of draft age: if there's a summons in the register you won't be allowed to leave again. Get advice before the trip: First Department, Network Freedoms, OVD-Info (bot). OVD-Info is designated 'extremist' in Russia, so contact it from a device you will not take across the border.
Designations of organisations in this guide: OVD-Info (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.