Memo for journalists, diggers and others

There are many questions regarding Russian legislation on state secrets. We answer some of them honestly.

1

What is the penalty for illegally obtaining state secrets?

The punishment depends on which part of Article 283.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation will be used to initiate a criminal case:

1. up to four years in prison - for collecting state secrets in an illegal way: by deception, blackmail, etc. (if there are no signs of espionage and treason in the case);
2. from three to eight years in prison, if - if secret information was obtained under aggravating circumstances. Namely:
   • a group of persons;
   • with the use of violence;
   • if this led to serious consequences;
   • using special and other technical means designed to secretly obtain information (for example, a telephone or a voice recorder);
   • if the obtained state secret managed to be disseminated (in the media or social networks) or its carriers took it abroad.

2

What data is classified as a state secret?

This is any information , the disclosure of which “may harm the security of the Russian Federation” and which is protected by the state. However, lists of such information are classified, and in public documents they are described only in general phrases. For example, Presidential Decree No. 1203 lists 119 categories of classified information. Among them:

• data on army losses during “special operations”;
• information about those whom the security forces plan to recruit for secret cooperation;
• and even information about additional security measures for a particular prisoner.

3

Who was persecuted under Art. 283.1 CC?

In 2016, digger Gennady Nefedov received five years in a maximum security colony, and his accomplices received 4.5 years of probation for sneaking into an underground, almost unguarded facility in the center of Moscow. According to investigators and the courts, in this way the diggers illegally obtained secret information “about the location, configuration, design features and internal structure of special construction objects,” and later published photos from there on social networks, that is, they disseminated state secrets.

In the fall of 2023, a foreigner, whose name and citizenship were not disclosed, was banned from entering the Russian Federation for 70 years. According to investigators, he tried to bribe a border service officer in order to receive information about the alignment of forces and means of guarding the state border.

Engineer Viktor Ryzhanov was convicted of calling an acquaintance of a border guard, in which he allegedly tried to find out the time of duty. The court of first instance sentenced the man to three years and three months in prison, but the Supreme Court replaced the sentence with a suspended sentence and released Ryzhanov in the courtroom. The convict’s lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, said that “the court declared the content of Ryzhanov’s telephone conversations with his border guard friend to be state secret, while in the unclassified verdict the court itself fully cites their content.” The border guard with whom Ryzhanov spoke was also given a suspended sentence.

4

I'm a journalist. What questions cannot be asked of sources in order not to fall under Art. 283.1 CC?

Lawyer Evgeny Smirnov: “You can ask any questions, the main thing is not to lure out state secrets through illegal means. For example, do not promise money or services for her, do not threaten her for refusing to talk. When communicating with a source, it is very important to say that you do not want to receive state secrets, but want to hear answers to questions.”

5

The secret carrier, answering my question, divulged information that constituted a state secret. Will I get anything for this?

If you follow the letter of the law, you should not be prosecuted for accidentally spilling a secret. But it all depends on how you formulated the question. You can ask, for example, what kind of weapons a military plant produces, or you can offer to buy technical data on the missiles produced by the plant for money. In the first case, this is a general question, in the second, an attempt to obtain information that constitutes a state secret for money.

6

How to understand that information posted in the public domain is secret?

Unfortunately, no way. “Even in criminal cases, expertise is required. This is the most important problem of the legislation on state secrets - an ordinary person cannot understand what is a state secret and what is not,” says lawyer Evgeny Smirnov.

For example, the treason of journalist Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced to 24 years in prison, according to investigator Alexander Chaban, prosecutor Boris Loktionov and their colleagues, consists of retelling several articles to a foreign journalist. All of them are publicly available.

7

I'm a digger. How can I understand that the object I want to penetrate “contains” state secrets?

Reliably - no way. “The logic of the investigation is simple: if the object is closed and protected at least on paper, then you could not get into it,” says lawyer Evgeny Smirnov.