Election campaigning is the principal lawful way of persuading a voter to cast their ballot for or against a candidate or party. Over more than two decades, Russian legislation has gradually transformed campaigning from a form of political communication into a complex bureaucratic procedure: with its own special periodisation, a limited circle of permitted participants, various markings, prohibitions, approvals and reporting requirements. Such complex and cumbersome regulation creates corresponding risks that campaigning will be declared unlawful, and sanctions for violations of campaigning rules include measures up to and including the removal of a candidate.
2002: the basic law on elections and campaigning
The starting point for modern regulation was the basic Federal Law No. 67-FZ of 12.06.2002 “On the basic guarantees of electoral rights and the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to participate in a referendum” (hereinafter — Law No. 67-FZ). It enshrined the basic concepts: what campaigning is, when it may be conducted, who is entitled to campaign, what role the media play, how campaign materials are produced and what restrictions apply during an election campaign.
In the original logic, campaigning was regarded as a natural element of elections. Citizens and public associations received the right to conduct it in the forms permitted by law. On the one hand, the law recognised freedom of persuasion; on the other, this freedom immediately received a procedural framework. Campaigning could be conducted only within the established periods, and its specific forms had to be notified to the election commission in advance. Campaign expenditures were fixed as expenditures made exclusively from the relevant electoral fund, and paying for one candidate’s campaigning from another candidate’s fund was prohibited.
2003–2005: on the way to “responsible” campaigning
As a rule, clarifications to the regulation of campaigning were introduced through the State Duma’s adoption of multi-page packages of amendments to several laws at once, and this was formalised through the adoption of a corresponding federal law “on amendments to legislative acts”.
Thus, Federal Law No. 94-FZ of 04.07.2003 became one of the first major “enabling” packages after the adoption of the basic law on the basic guarantees of electoral rights. The amendments did not merely clarify the rules for conducting a campaign but built an infrastructure of responsibility around campaigning: media activity could be suspended for violations of electoral legislation, television and radio companies were required to keep recordings of campaign broadcasts, and journalists were expressly prohibited from campaigning in their professional role. At the same time, the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offences acquired, or had reworked, offences related to campaigning outside the established period, violations in the production and distribution of campaign materials, and the use of administrative resources.
The next major package was Federal Law No. 93-FZ of 21.07.2005. It substantially changed the rules on campaigning in basic Law No. 67-FZ, the law on elections of State Duma deputies, the Code of Administrative Offences, the Criminal Code and the law on the media. The amendments clarified the boundary between informing and campaigning in media activity, prohibited involving minors in campaigning, expanded the list of subjects prohibited from campaigning, and also established detailed rules for campaigning in the media, public events, the placement of campaign materials and the use of images of individuals. The financial discipline of the campaign was also tightened: campaigning, election-related services and material support had to pass through electoral funds, and commercial advertising using a candidate or party symbols was restricted.
2006: the anti-extremist contour and the ban on “dirty” materials
Federal Law No. 225-FZ of 05.12.2006 became an important stage in the transition from procedural regulation of campaigning to control over its content. Law No. 67-FZ was amended with norms prohibiting campaign materials, programmes and public speeches if they contain calls for extremist activity, justify extremism, incite social, racial, national or religious discord, or use Nazi symbols. Negative television campaigning was separately restricted: candidates were prohibited from using the airtime provided to them on television for calls to vote against candidates or lists, or for describing the negative consequences of the election of one or another candidate.
Violation of these restrictions could have not only administrative or judicial significance but also direct electoral consequences: refusal of registration, cancellation of a candidate’s registration, and in individual cases — restriction of the right to be elected.
Thus several directions were formed at once in the regulation of campaigning. The first answered the question: “Is this campaigning or not?” The second — the question: “Have all procedural requirements been observed in preparing the material?” And, finally, the third — the question: “Is such content of the material permissible?” A candidate or party now risked not only because of the absence of imprint data or incorrect payment, but also because the material itself could be recognised as an abuse of freedom of mass information, a violation of intellectual property rights, or material with signs of extremism.
2009: equality of access to the media becomes conditional
One of the key principles of election campaigning is equal access of candidates to state and municipal media. Under the regulation then in force, state and municipal television and radio companies and print outlets were obliged to provide candidates and associations with equal conditions, including free airtime and free print space.
Federal Law No. 203-FZ of 19.07.2009 changed this logic. For parties and candidates that had not overcome the established threshold of support in the previous elections, free airtime and free print space were replaced by the possibility of obtaining the same share of the resource for a fee.
From that moment, equality of campaigning opportunities became highly relative. Formally, this looked like rationalisation of access to state resources: airtime and newspaper space should not be provided to everyone irrespective of actual support. But the political effect was obvious: new and weak campaign participants received less free publicity, while already represented parties consolidated their advantage.
2014: Duma elections receive their own law
The next stage was the adoption of Federal Law No. 20-FZ of 22.02.2014 “On elections of deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation”. It did not so much propose a new philosophy of campaign regulation as reassemble it anew: it described in detail who is entitled to campaign, through which channels, within which periods, at whose expense and under what conditions. The law enshrined the rules of access to free and paid airtime and print space, the procedure for producing and distributing campaign materials, prohibitions for state bodies, officials, foreign persons, religious and charitable organisations, as well as restrictions on bribery, charity and the use of commercial advertising during the campaign period. Candidates and parties now fell under the operation of two laws at once: the general one — No. 67-FZ, and the special one — the law on the specific type of election.
2016: campaigning turns into formalised document flow
In 2016, regulation took another step towards control of procedures. Federal Law No. 66-FZ of 09.03.2016 amended Law No. 67-FZ, Law No. 20-FZ and related acts.
The amendments partially extended the operation of electoral legislation to internet campaigning. Officially registered online media received the right to provide paid services for the placement of campaign materials, but subject to the same conditions and restrictions that concerned periods, cost, equality of conditions, prior notification of election commissions, official contracts, reporting, document storage and liability. In essence, the same disciplinary model that had previously applied to television, radio and the print press was applied to registered online media. At the same time, these requirements did not yet extend to social networks, messengers and ordinary websites.
In the same year, Federal Law No. 92-FZ of 05.04.2016 was adopted. It added to the regulation of campaigning a separate block of restrictions on the use of statements and images of individuals. Campaign materials were prohibited from including statements by persons who are themselves prohibited from campaigning, and in other cases written consent was required. At the same time, the use of images of individuals in elections was reduced to a narrow list of permissible cases: a party may use images of its candidates, and a candidate — their own images. This restricted the practice of campaigning through expressions of support by public figures, photographs of supporters and visual images of third parties.
2017–2020: targeted clarifications of procedures
This period can be characterised as a relative lull: no substantial adjustment of campaigning rules was carried out at this time.
Thus, Federal Law No. 103-FZ of 01.06.2017 was devoted to the “presidential law” No. 19-FZ and changed several procedural provisions of the campaign in it.
On the same day, Federal Law No. 104-FZ of 01.06.2017 was adopted. It touched the campaigning block only in a targeted way: it clarified the possibility of exceptions from the obligation to participate in joint campaign events and adjusted the requirements for indicating the addresses of the manufacturer and the commissioning party in campaign materials.
Federal Law No. 27-FZ of 27.02.2020 was devoted to removing from electoral legislation the provisions on political parties whose lists received deputy mandates under the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. This package introduced no new substantive, financial or internet restrictions on campaigning.
2021: the era of markings and administrative suppression
From 2021, the regulation of campaigning reached a new level. Federal Law No. 43-FZ of 09.03.2021 above all enshrined rules for internet campaigning. It was finally built into the same legal framework as printed materials, airtime and publications in the media: it became subject to the requirements for production, payment, marking and the lawfulness of distribution.
At the same time, the CEC acquired the power to establish the specifics of producing and distributing campaign materials. Commissions were assigned the duty to apply to law-enforcement bodies, the court and Roskomnadzor when unlawful campaign activity was identified. Thus, the commission became not simply a body that receives copies of materials, but a direct participant in the mechanism for the prompt suppression of allegedly unlawful campaigning. Campaigning was finally built into the administrative system of control, where a violation may lead not only to a dispute after the elections, but also to a rapid demand to stop distributing the material.
Vote on Federal Law No. 43-FZ of 09.03.2021:
In the same 2021, a new political-legal filter appeared — the foreign agent marking. Federal Law No. 91-FZ of 20.04.2021 introduced into electoral legislation a special regime for candidates who are foreign agents and candidates affiliated with foreign agents. In the context of campaigning, the key element was not the restriction of a specific distribution channel, but the introduction of mandatory marking of the political subject: campaign materials of such candidates, as well as of parties and associations that nominated such candidates, must contain an indication of the relevant status. Moreover, this information must be clearly visible or clearly distinguishable by ear and occupy no less than 15% of the area or volume of the campaign material.
Thus, the regulation of campaigning took an important step from control over the format and content of campaign material to control over the status of the participant in political communication. This logic was extended not only to leaflets and publications, but also to any joint campaign events, materials in print outlets, and the informing of voters by commissions, the media and online publications. As a result, for some candidates campaigning became legally possible only with a permanent special warning marking, noticeable to the voter.
Vote on Federal Law No. 91-FZ of 20.04.2021:
Another amendment of the same year — Federal Law No. 115-FZ of 30.04.2021 — did not introduce special regulation of campaigning, but clarified a general restriction: the ban on conducting election campaigning on voting day and on the day preceding voting day. The new wording took account of multi-day voting: if elections are held over several consecutive days, campaigning stops not before the “last” day of voting, but from zero hours local time on the first day of voting. This change was made both to basic Law No. 67-FZ and to the law on elections of State Duma deputies No. 20-FZ.
Vote on Federal Law No. 115-FZ of 30.04.2021:
Overall, the most notable event of 2021 was the adoption of Federal Law No. 414-FZ of 21.12.2021 “On the general principles of the organisation of public power in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation”. It was adopted after the constitutional reform of 2020 and enshrined the idea of a “unified system of public power”: federal power, bodies of power of the constituent entities and local self-government are regarded not as autonomous levels, but as elements of a single administrative system. The law regulates the status of regional parliaments, governors, regional governments, their powers, responsibility and relations with the federal centre.
2022: foreign agent status becomes part of the language of the campaign
After the adoption of the law on public power, Federal Law No. 60-FZ of 14.03.2022 was adopted. It amended Law No. 67-FZ, the law on presidential elections, the law on elections of State Duma deputies and other acts on a mass scale. The adopted amendments did not create a new model of campaigning, but built campaign norms into the updated electoral system: the powers of election commissions, the regulation of remote electronic voting, the procedure for conducting elections and referendums, and individual specifics of producing and distributing campaign materials were clarified.
Vote on Federal Law No. 60-FZ of 14.03.2022:
A separate requirement was also introduced not only for materials of foreign agent candidates or parties that nominated such candidates, but also for campaign materials in which the statement of an individual who is a foreign agent is used. In such a case, the statement itself must be accompanied by information that this statement belongs to such an individual. As in the case of foreign agent candidates, this information must be clearly visible or clearly distinguishable by ear and occupy no less than 15% of the area or volume of the campaign material.
Then Federal Law No. 498-FZ of 05.12.2022 was adopted. It brought electoral legislation into line with the new law on foreign agents and updated the terminology: “foreign agent”, “affiliated with a foreign agent”, and the procedure for reflecting this status in electoral and campaign materials.
For campaigning, the significance of this amendment was that the marking and restrictive norms came to rest on a unified foreign agent status. Whereas previously the law listed different types of “foreign agent” subjects, after the adoption of 498-FZ the rules on foreign agent candidates, affiliated candidates and the use of statements by such persons in campaign materials were brought under common terminology. This did not so much expand regulation as such as make the already existing regime for marking political communication more universal and technically applicable to different campaign formats — from printed materials to online publications.
Vote on Federal Law No. 498-FZ of 05.12.2022:
Thus campaigning acquired another layer of compliance. Previously the control questions were: a) was the material lawfully produced and paid for? b) are there any violations in the content of the materials? Now another was added: are the statuses, connections and sources of statements correctly marked in it? Possible violations in campaigning became not only financial or procedural, but also “status-based”.
2023–2024: campaigning becomes tied to regimes of access and admission to elections
Federal Law No. 184-FZ of 29.05.2023 formally relates to the broader topic of internet regulation, but it cannot be entirely left outside the history of campaign regulation. It introduced into basic Law No. 67-FZ a ban on conducting campaigning using information resources, including websites, access to which is restricted by Roskomnadzor.
Vote on Federal Law No. 184-FZ of 29.05.2023:
This means that the lawfulness of campaigning came to be determined not only by the fulfilment of all procedures required by law, its content and not only by the candidate’s status, but also by the platform of distribution. Even if the campaign material itself formally meets all the requirements of electoral legislation, the use of a blocked resource becomes an independent violation. In other words, this amendment can be described as a transition from regulating campaign materials themselves to regulating the infrastructure through which they are distributed.
The next step was the restriction of foreign agents’ participation in elections. Federal Law No. 99-FZ of 15.05.2024 introduced further amendments to Law No. 67-FZ and other legislative acts. Their meaning is no longer so much in the marking of campaigning as in admission to the campaign itself: a person with foreign agent status must terminate that status by the time documents are submitted for registration as a candidate. It is curious that the official card of the law on the State Duma website reads as “amendments… regarding errors (typos) made in the execution of documents submitted to the election commission in respect of individual candidates”.
Vote on Federal Law No. 99-FZ of 15.05.2024:
For the regulation of campaigning this has an indirect but important effect. If earlier the logic was: a foreign agent candidate may participate, but their materials must be marked — then starting from 2024 the emphasis shifts to the preliminary cutting off of such candidates from the campaign. Accordingly, the system of citizen statuses ceases to be a rule for the execution of campaign materials and becomes part of a broader system of admission to elections as such.
2026: regulation reaches synthetic reality
The latest stage at present is an attempt to regulate the space of technologies. Federal Law No. 130-FZ of 02.05.2026 amended electoral legislation on the use of images, voices and technologically created likenesses in campaign materials.
Vote on Federal Law No. 130-FZ of 02.05.2026:
The provisions of Law No. 67-FZ provide that the use in campaign materials of an image of an individual or the reproduction of their voice is permitted only in certain cases: a party may use the image of its candidate, a candidate — their own image, and the image or voice of another adult citizen of the Russian Federation — only with written consent and in the absence of established restrictions. With the adoption of the new amendments, it was separately prohibited to use the image, likeness or voice of a person, including a fictional or deceased one, created with the use of information technologies.
This package of amendments completes a long trajectory. The Russian legislator began with the regulation of leaflets, airtime and print space. Then it moved to control over financing, imprint data, consents for statements, the status of participants, the marking of foreign agents, and distribution platforms. By 2026, the object of regulation was no longer only the text and not only the video, but the very digital image of a person — the face, the voice, the synthetic imitation, the possibility of creating “support” or “compromising material” with the help of technologies.
General conclusion
The evolution of the regulation of election campaigning in Russia proceeded not along one line, but along several.
First, the state defined campaigning itself and enshrined the basic rules for conducting an election campaign: the periods and forms of campaigning, the procedure for financing, the role of the media and the procedure for issuing materials were established. Then the concept of campaigning was expanded so that it came to cover not only direct calls, but also any actions to shape attitudes towards a candidate or party. Then ever more detailed requirements for materials appeared: who produced them, who commissioned them, from which fund they were paid, whether copies were submitted to the commission, whether there are consents for images and statements.
The next layer was substantive and status restrictions: extremism, abuse of freedom of mass information, intellectual property rights, the ban on commercial advertising, foreign agent marking and the status of persons whose statements are used.
Finally, in recent years regulation has reached the level of infrastructure and technologies: prohibited platforms, digital copies of materials, synthetic images and voices.
The result of this evolution can be formulated as follows: election campaigning in Russian law has gradually ceased to be simply political speech. It has become a complex legally administered process, where danger for a candidate or party may arise not only from the content of a slogan, but also from the wrong font of a marking, the absence of written consent, the status of a quoted person, the method of payment, the platform of placement, or even the technological origin of an image.