{
  "id": 2420695,
  "title": "Russia asked the UN for a treaty against ‘extremism,’ ‘subversion,’ and ‘discrediting the authorities.’ Instead, it got one that covers hacking and fraud.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/russia-asked-the-un-for-a-treaty-against-extremism-subversion-and",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-21T19:10:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Meduza (English)",
    "slug": "meduza-english",
    "url": "https://meduza.io/en/cards/russia-asked-the-un-for-a-treaty-against-extremism-subversion-and-discrediting-the-authorities-instead-it-got-one-that-covers-hacking-and-fraud"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In 2026, Russia will submit a new international treaty to the State Duma for ratification - the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime. Russia initiated this treaty, but it will be ratified with reservations. The treaty aims to create a framework for international cooperation against cybercrime. It allows investigators in one country to obtain assistance from foreign counterparts in freezing, seizing, confiscating, and returning proceeds from certain crimes, as well as collecting and sharing evidence in electronic form.\n\nTo ensure the preservation of evidence, countries must develop the ability to intercept internet traffic in real time and store it for at least 90 days, or delegate this task to internet service providers. This approach resembles Russia's Yarovaya law, which was passed in 2014 and requires telecom operators and information dissemination organizers to store various types of user data for specific periods.\n\nWhile previous cybercrime treaties like the Budapest Convention (adopted in 2001) already required member countries to adopt measures for real-time traffic interception, the new convention goes further by demanding that countries be capable of intercepting and storing citizens' internet traffic. However, unlike the Budapest Convention, the UN convention does not obligate countries to intercept and store the traffic of all citizens.\n\nThe UN convention has faced criticism from human rights organizations, who argue that it may target dissidents, journalists, and independent security researchers. Russia's proposed treaty aimed to cover a broader range of crimes connected to the internet, including administrative offenses. The final text of the treaty, however, was influenced by Western countries, resulting in compromises that changed its title to a more unwieldy form.",
  "summary": "By the end of 2026, a major new international treaty will be submitted to the State Duma for ratification: the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime. Russia does not agree with every provision in the document — even though Russia was the one that initiated it. So the convention will be ratified with reservations. How substantial those reservations will be, we don’t yet know.",
  "key_points": [
    "Russia proposed a UN treaty against extremism and subversion.",
    "Final treaty covers hacking and fraud, not extremism.",
    "Treaty includes provisions for real-time internet traffic interception."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}