OREANDA-NEWS The State Duma in the third, final reading approved the bill, according to which the military and conscripts will be banned from using gadgets. This is stated in the message on the website of the lower house of Parliament.

Amendments are made to the law "On the Status of Servicemen". Their initiator was the Ministry of Defense. Changes suggest that in the performance of military duties will not be able to carry phones, tablets and other devices that can be distributed via the Internet audio, photo and video materials, as well as geolocation data.

In addition, the initiative provides for the prohibition of military personnel to post information about themselves, their close relatives, colleagues, command or location of military units in the media and the Network.

The authors of the bill explained the need for such a rule by the fact that "military personnel are of particular interest to the special services of individual States, terrorist and extremist organizations". Personal data can be "used for information and information and psychological impact on the Russian military", it is specified in the explanatory note. "In some cases, "it can serve" to form a biased assessment of the state policy of the Russian Federation," the authors of the bill believe.

The measure, according to it, is proposed to "neutralize problem" and "strike a balance between the need for soldiers to freely exchange information and the restrictions associated with the need to ensure national security."

The government submitted the relevant draft law to the Duma last autumn. The document itself was developed by the Defense Ministry in 2017.

The publication of personal data by military personnel in social networks has repeatedly led to leaks. Thus, in 2014, the pages of soldiers in "Vkontakte" allowed to obtain confirmation of the presence of the Russian military in Ukraine.

In addition, the data of soldiers from social networks to investigate the crash of Malaysian Boeing in the sky over Ukraine (crashed in 2014) used the international expert-journalistic group Bellingcat. Published military photos and geotags allowed experts to confirm the Russian origin of the complex "Buk", which, according to Bellingcat, was shot down the liner.