Russia’s Central Election Commission told the Russian business daily Vedomosti that candidates are legally entitled to choose their own forms and methods of campaigning, including on Telegram.
Candidates also have the right to freely produce and distribute printed, audiovisual, and other campaign materials online, the commission said.
Lawyers surveyed by Vedomosti said campaigning on Telegram currently sits in a legal “gray zone,” with no legal mechanism to pay for official advertising from a campaign account. “In this situation, a large portion of campaign materials will appear in the form of hidden, background advertising rather than official campaign materials,” said electoral lawyer Oleg Zakharov. Lawyer Garegin Mitin added that the difficulties of accessing the messenger also need to be taken into account, raising the question of whether campaigning on it is worthwhile at all.
Political parties say they have no plans to abandon the messenger. United Russia told Vedomosti it uses all means “not prohibited by law.” Russia’s Communist Party said it would campaign “everywhere.”
In early March, the Federal Antimonopoly Service said it saw “signs of a violation of advertising law” in the placement of ads on Telegram, since advertising is not permitted on resources whose activities have been deemed undesirable in Russia or whose access has been restricted. Three weeks later, the agency promised not to fine anyone for advertising on Telegram through the end of 2026, saying businesses needed time to adapt to the new rules.
Telegram had been expected to be blocked in Russia by April 1 — that was the date cited by sources at the Russian security services-linked Telegram channel Baza, The Bell, and RBC. A full block does not appear to have materialized, but in practice the messenger has not been working for most Russian users without a VPN since mid-March.
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