Russia negotiates with Chinese firms over data storage for anti-terror laws
Russian newspaper Kommersant claims telecommunications equipment manufacturer Bulat is currently in the process of obtaining licences to construct the data storage units required as part of Russia's new anti-terror law. Currently, the licenses are held by Chinese companies Huawei and Lenovo. As we noted in June, Russia is bringing in a new package of anti-terror laws which includes forcing its telephone and internet providers to store records of all communications for up to six months and metadata for three years, prompting criticism that Russia is moving toward a Chinese-style control of the web in an attempt to quash rising unrest in the country.

The daily also cited Lenovo’s Eastern Europe head Gleb Mishin as saying that although there have been no official talks between Lenovo and Bulat, his company is interested in cooperating with the Russian firm.

Under the package of anti-terror laws passed in June, Russian telecommunications providers will be obliged to store all users’ data for at least six months. The law comes into force in July 2018.

After the law was signed, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to organize the production of data storage equipment to help communication providers meet the requirements of the new laws.