MOSCOW, July 21 (RAPSI) – The State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, passed in the third and final reading on Friday a bill regulating the work of messaging services and prohibiting anonymous use of online messengers.

The bill obliges organizers of instant messaging to maintain message transmission only of Internet users identified in accordance with a procedure established by Russia’s government and prohibits providers from working with unidentified users.

Moreover, the draft law proposes to identify users with the aid of their cell phone numbers basing on the agreement for identification concluded between organizers of instant messaging and communications providers.

Failure to abide by the regulations would result in fines of up to 5,000 rubles (about $85 at the current exchange rate) for individuals, up to 50,000 rubles (about $850) for officials and up to 1 million rubles ($17,000) for companies. Messengers would also face blocking in Russia for failure to comply with requirements to restrict anonymous messaging.

Amendments are proposed to the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technology and Information Protection”.