Are Foreigners Still Allowed to Use Russian Archival Documents?

1. Access to archival documents may be restricted in accordance with an international treaty of the Russian Federation, the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as in accordance with the demands of the owner or holder of privately owned archival documents.

2. Access is limited to archival documents, regardless of their form of ownership, that contain information constituting state and other secrets protected by the legislation of the Russian Federation, as well as to originals of especially valuable documents, including unique documents, and documents of the Archival Fund of the Russian Federation, recognized in the procedure established by the authorized federal executive body in the sphere of archiving and record-keeping, that are in poor physical condition. The removal of restrictions on access to archival documents containing information constituting state and other secrets protected by the legislation of the Russian Federation is carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

3. The restriction on access to archival documents containing information about the personal and family secrets of a citizen, his private life, as well as information that poses a threat to his security, is established for a period of 75 years from the date of creation of these documents. With the written permission of the citizen, and after his death with the written permission of the heirs of this citizen, the restriction on access to archival documents containing information about the personal and family secrets of the citizen, his private life, as well as information that poses a threat to his security, may be canceled earlier than after 75 years from the date of creation of these documents.

1. The user of archival documents has the right to use, transfer, distribute the information contained in the archival documents provided to him, as well as copies of archival documents for any legal purposes and in any legal way.

6. The use of archival documents that are subject to the laws of the Russian Federation on intellectual property is conducted with the requirements of that legislation (see the Civil Code).

Export outside the Russian Federation and import into the Russian Federation of acquired and (or) legally obtained copies of archival documents on media of any kind are conducted without restrictions, with the exception of the export of copies of archival documents access to which is limited in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

1. The objects of copyright are works of science, literature and art, regardless of the merits and purpose of the work, as well as the way it is expressed:

literary works;
dramatic and musical-dramatic works, stage works;
choreographic works and pantomimes;
musical works with or without text;
audiovisual works;
works of painting, sculpture, graphics, design, graphic stories, comics and other works of visual art;
works of arts and crafts and scenographic art;
works of architecture, urban planning and gardening art, including in the form of projects, drawings, images and models;
photographic works and works obtained by methods analogous to photography;
geographical and other maps, plans, sketches and plastic works related to geography and other sciences;
other works.

The objects of copyright also include computer programs that are protected as literary works.

2. The objects of copyright include:

1) derivative works, i.e. works that are transformations of another work;
2) composite works, i.e. works that, in terms of the selection or arrangement of materials, are the result of creative work.

3. Copyright extends to both published and unpublished works expressed in any objective form, including written, oral (in the form of public pronunciation, public performance and other similar form), in the form of an image, in in the form of sound or video recording, in volume-spatial form.

4. The creation, exercise and protection of copyright does not require the registration of a work or the observance of any other formalities.

5. Copyright does not extend to ideas, concepts, principles, methods, processes, systems, modes, solutions to technical, organizational or other problems, discoveries, facts, programming languages, geological information about subsoil.

6. Not subject to copyright:

1) official documents of state bodies and local government bodies of municipalities, including laws, other regulations, court decisions, other materials of a legislative, administrative and judicial nature, official documents of international organizations, as well as their official translations;
2) state symbols and signs (flags, emblems, orders, banknotes, etc.), as well as symbols and signs of municipalities;
3) works of folk art (folklore) that do not have specific authors;
4) reports about events and facts that are of an exclusively informational nature (news reports of the day, TV programs, transportation schedules, etc.).

1. A publisher is recognized as a citizen who lawfully published or organized the publication of a work of science, literature or art that was not previously published and passed into the public domain (Article 1282) or is in the public domain due to the fact that it was not protected by copyright.

2. The rights of a publisher extend to works that, regardless of the time of their creation, could be recognized as objects of copyright in accordance with the rules of Article 1259 of this Code.

3. The provisions provided for by this paragraph do not apply to works located in state and municipal archives.

1. The owner of information may be a citizen (individual), a legal entity, the Russian Federation, a subject of the Russian Federation, a municipality.

3. The owner of information, unless otherwise provided by federal laws, has the right to:

1) allow or restrict access to information, determine the procedure and conditions for such access;
2) use the information, including disseminating it, at his own discretion;
3) transfer information to other persons under an agreement or on another basis established by law;
4) protect their rights by means established by law in case of illegal receipt of information or its illegal use by other persons;
5) carry out other actions with information or permit the implementation of such actions.

1. Publicly available information includes well-known information and other information access to which is not limited.

2. Publicly available information may be used by any persons at their discretion, subject to the restrictions established by federal laws regarding the dissemination of such information.

3. The owner of information that has become publicly available by his decision has the right to demand that persons distributing such information indicate themselves as the source of such information.

4. Information posted by its owners on the Internet in a format that allows automated processing without prior modification by a person in order to reuse it is publicly available information posted in the form of open data.

5. Information in the form of open data is placed on the Internet taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on state secrets. If the posting of information in the form of open data may lead to the dissemination of information constituting a state secret, the posting of this information in the form of open data must be terminated at the request of the body empowered to wield such information.

6. If the posting of information in the form of open data may entail a violation of the rights of the owners of information access to which is restricted in accordance with federal laws, or a violation of the rights of subjects of personal data, the posting of this information in the form of open data must be terminated by court decision. If the posting of information in the form of open data is carried out in violation of the requirements of Federal Law of July 27, 2006 No. 152-FZ "On Personal Data," the posting of information in the form of open data must be suspended or terminated at the request of the authorized body for the protection of the rights of personal data owners.

1. Restriction of access to information is established by federal laws to protect the foundations of the constitutional order, morality, health, rights and legitimate interests of other persons, to ensure the defense of the country and the security of the state.

2. It is mandatory to maintain the confidentiality of information access to which is limited by federal laws (https://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_93980/ has a list of regulations relating information to the category of restricted access: medical, commercial secrets, etc.).

3. Protection of information constituting a state secret is carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

1. In the Russian Federation, the dissemination of information is carried out freely subject to the requirements established by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

2. Information disseminated without the use of mass media must include reliable information about its owner or about another person disseminating the information in a form and to the extent that is sufficient to identify such a person. The owner of a site on the Internet is obliged to place on his site information about his name, location and address, e-mail address for sending the declaration specified in Article 15.7 of this Federal Law, and also has the right to provide for the possibility of sending this declaration by filling out an electronic form on a website on the Internet.

6. It is prohibited to disseminate information that is aimed at propaganda of war, incitement of national, racial or religious hatred and enmity, as well as other information the dissemination of which is subject to criminal or administrative liability.

7. Distribution of materials produced and (or) distributed by a foreign agent in connection with the implementation of the type of activity established by Article 4 of the Federal Law of July 14, 2022 No. 255-FZ "On Control over the Activities of Persons under Foreign Influence" is prohibited, and also information relating to the type of activity established by Article 4 of the Federal Law of July 14, 2022 No. 255-FZ "On Control over the Activities of Persons under Foreign Influence," without indicating that these materials (information) were produced and (or) distributed by a foreign agent. The form, requirements for placement and the procedure for placing such an indication are established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

1. The organizer of the dissemination of information on the Internet is a subject carrying out activities to ensure the functioning of information systems and (or) programs for electronic computers that are designed and (or) used for receiving, transmitting, delivering and (or) processing electronic messages of Internet users.

2. The organizer of the dissemination of information on the Internet is obliged, in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation, to notify the federal executive body exercising the functions of control and supervision in the field of mass media, mass communications, information technologies and communications, of the commencement of the activities specified in Part One of this Article.

3. The organizer of the dissemination of information on the Internet is obliged to store on the territory of the Russian Federation:

1) information about the facts of receipt, transmission, delivery and (or) processing of voice information, written text, images, sounds, video or other electronic messages of Internet users and information about these users within one year from the date of completion of such actions;

2) text messages of Internet users, voice information, images, sounds, video, other electronic messages of Internet users up to six months from the moment of their receipt, transmission, delivery and (or) processing. The procedure, time frames and volume of storage of the information specified in this subparagraph are established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

3.1. The organizer of the dissemination of information on the Internet is obliged to provide the information specified in Paragraph 3 of this Article to authorized state bodies engaged in investigation and search activities or ensuring the security of the Russian Federation in the cases established by federal laws.

4. The organizer of the dissemination of information on the Internet is obliged to ensure the implementation of the requirements established by the federal executive body in the field of communications in agreement with the authorized state bodies engaged in investigation and search activities or ensuring the security of the Russian Federation for equipment and software and hardware used by the specified organizer in the information systems operated by him, for these bodies, in cases established by federal laws, to carry out activities to implement the tasks assigned to them, and also to take measures to prevent the disclosure of organizational and tactical methods for carrying out these measures. The procedure for the interaction of the organizers of the dissemination of information on the Internet with authorized state bodies carrying out investigation and search activities or ensuring the security of the Russian Federation is established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

4.1. The organizer of the dissemination of information on the Internet is obliged, when using for receiving, transmitting, delivering and (or) processing electronic messages of Internet users with additional encoding of electronic messages and (or) when providing Internet users with the possibility of additional encoding of electronic messages, to provide the federal executive body in the field of security with the information necessary for decoding the received, transmitted, delivered and (or) processed electronic messages.

State secrets are:

1) information in the military field:

on the content of strategic and operational plans, documents of the combat directorate for the preparation and conduct of operations, strategic, operational and mobilization deployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and bodies provided for by the Federal Law "On Defense," on their combat and mobilizational readiness, on the creation and use of mobilization resources;

on plans for construction of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops of the Russian Federation, on the direction for the development of weapons and military equipment, on the content and results of the implementation of targeted programs, research and development work to create and modernize weapons and military equipment;

on the development, technology, production, production volumes, storage, disposal of nuclear munitions, their components, fissile nuclear materials used in nuclear munitions, on technical means and (or) methods of protecting nuclear munitions from unauthorized use, as well as on nuclear power and special physical installations of defensive importance;

on the performance characteristics and possibilities for the combat use of weapons and military equipment, on the properties, formulas or technologies for the production of new types of rocket fuel or military explosives;

on the location, purpose, degree of readiness, security of regime-subjected and especially important facilities, on their design, construction and operation, as well as on the allocation of land, subsoil and water areas for these facilities;

on the deployment, actual names, organizational structure, armament, number of troops and the state of their combat provision, as well as on the military-political and (or) operational situation;

2) information in the field of the economy, science and technology:

on the content of plans for the preparation of the Russian Federation and its individual regions for possible military operations, on the mobilizational capacities of industry for the manufacture and repair of weapons and military equipment, on the volume of production, deliveries, on stocks of strategic types of raw materials and materials, as well as on the deployment, actual size and on the use of state material reserves;

on the use of the infrastructure of the Russian Federation in order to ensure defense capability and security of the state;

on the forces and means of civil defense, on the location, purpose and degree of protection of objects of administration, on the degree of ensuring the safety of the population, on the functioning of transport and communications in the Russian Federation in order to ensure the security of the state;

on the volumes, plans (tasks) of state defense procurement, on the production and deliveries (in cash or in kind) of weapons, military equipment and other defense products, on the availability and increase of capacities for their production, on the relationships of enterprises for cooperation, on developers or on the manufacturers of said weapons, military equipment and other defense products;

about the achievements of science and technology, about research, development, design work and technologies of great defense or economic importance, affecting the security of the state;

on the reserves of platinum, platinum group metals, natural diamonds in the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, as well as on the volume of reserves in the subsoil, extraction, production and consumption of strategic types of minerals in the Russian Federation (according to the list determined by Government of the Russian Federation);

3) information in the field of foreign policy and the economy:

on the foreign policy, foreign economic activity of the Russian Federation the premature dissemination of which may damage the security of the state;

on financial policy toward foreign states (with the exception of generalized indicators on external debt), as well as on financial or monetary activities, the premature dissemination of which may harm the security of the state;

4) information in the field of intelligence, counterintelligence and investigation and search activities, as well as in the field of countering terrorism and in the field of ensuring the security of persons in respect of whom a decision has been made to apply state protection measures:

about forces, means, sources, methods, plans and results of intelligence, counterintelligence, investigation and search activities and activities to counter terrorism, as well as data on the financing of this activity, if this data discloses listed information;

on the forces, means, sources, methods, plans and results of activities to ensure the security of persons in respect of whom a decision has been made to apply state protection measures, data on the financing of this activity, if this data discloses listed information, as well as individual information on the specified individuals;

about persons cooperating or collaborating on a confidential basis with bodies carrying out intelligence, counterintelligence and investigation and search activities;

on the organization, forces, means and methods of ensuring the security of objects of state protection, as well as data on the financing of this activity, if this data discloses listed information;

on the system of presidential, governmental, encrypted, including encrypted and classified communications, on ciphers, on the development, production of ciphers and their provision, on methods and tools for analyzing encryption means and special protection means, on information and analytical systems for special purposes;

on methods and means of protecting classified information;

on the organization and actual state of the protection of state secrets;

on the protection of the State Borders of the Russian Federation, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of the Russian Federation;

on federal budget expenditures related to ensuring defense, state security and law enforcement activities in the Russian Federation;

on training personnel, revealing the activities carried out in order to ensure the security of the state;

on measures to ensure the protection of critical facilities and potentially dangerous infrastructure facilities of the Russian Federation from terrorist acts;

on the results of financial monitoring in relation to organizations and individuals obtained in connection with the verification of their possible involvement in terrorist activities;

on measures to ensure the security of the critical informational infrastructure of the Russian Federation and on the state of its protection from computer attacks.