Russia says it’s fighting scammers. Its latest proposals would push VPN services off Russian servers, tie eSIMs to devices, and expand telecom data retention.

Fighting fraud has been a major focus of Russian lawmaking in recent years. The country has already adopted two sweeping packages of anti-fraud measures, and the authorities often use the fight against fraud as a pretext to push through repressive measures. This was their justification, for example, for banning voice and video calls on Telegram and WhatsApp. This week, Russia’s Digital Development Ministry published provisions from a third package aimed at telephone and online fraud. It includes another set of major proposals that could impose much tighter restrictions on internet use in Russi