Legislative Institute: with what results did the State Duma close the spring session

The spring session of the State Duma has ended in Russia. For six and a half months of this year, the deputies imposed fines for searching for extremist information on the Internet, decided to block films for discrediting traditional values and approved the creation of a national messenger. At the same time, Russians were protected from cybercriminals, payments to the parent capital were extended, and children were prevented from buying vapes and energy drinks. Following the session, Vladimir Putin held a meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and thanked him for his productive work. Curiously, there have been noticeably more initiatives this time. Moreover, in the face of sanctions and external threats, the State Duma showed a high level of consolidation — more than 70%. The main draft laws that will affect the lives of Russians are described in the Izvestia article.

National Messenger and cybercriminals

Following the results of the spring session of the State Duma in 2025, there were noticeably more legislative initiatives than in the same period in the past. For example, the number of government amendments increased by 76%, and the number of bills introduced by the Cabinet increased by 8%, the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko told Izvestia.

"In 2025, the State Duma adopted 376 federal laws, of which 166 were introduced by the government. Currently, another 138 government bills are at various stages of consideration in the State Duma," the office of the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

Vladimir Putin thanked the deputies for their work. The President traditionally met with Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin in the Kremlin to discuss the results of the session.

— A lot of laws have been passed — over three hundred, in my opinion, right? Of these, the laws related to state building are in the first place in terms of number, followed by economic policy, budget, finance, taxes," the president said.

One of the biggest news during the spring session was the creation of the national messenger Max. With it, Russians will be able not only to communicate with each other, but also to use public services. After approving the law on the new messenger, a number of deputies proposed transferring citizens' data from WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) and Telegram, and parliamentarian Anton Gorelkin wrote that it was time for the WhatsApp application to "prepare to leave the Russian market." Such statements, predictably, caused a mixed reaction in society — after all, WhatsApp remained the most popular messenger among Russians back in 2024, according to Mediascope. Nevertheless, Max is gradually gaining a stronger position — in early July, it was the most downloaded app among social networks in the AppStore (also in the Russian segment).

Anti-fraud laws have also attracted attention, but rather because of their extreme relevance. Now banks will be able to issue a loan to a borrower in the amount of 50 thousand to 200 thousand rubles only four hours after its registration, and loans for larger amounts in two days. In addition, the deputies approved the government's law on the protection of citizens from cyberbullying. To do this, they will create a database of malicious voices, put mandatory labeling of their calls on phones, and it will also be possible to opt out of advertising calls.

Finally, the State Duma recently passed a bill on the platform economy, which allows the state to regulate the operation of all online services that act as intermediaries in the purchase and sale of goods. These include marketplaces that are popular among Russians. Now the authorities will identify sellers through state registers to prevent fraudulent schemes. In addition, the platforms will not be able to set a discount on the product without the seller's consent.

— Today, when preparing draft laws and regulations, we use a digital monitoring system. The system automatically tracks deadlines, identifies those responsible, and predicts the risks of non-fulfillment of certain tasks. Such transparency has significantly increased the executive discipline of government agencies and ensured 100% fulfillment of plans," the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.

Demography, migration, and support for ITS participants

Raising the level of demography in the country continues to be one of the key tasks in the legislative activity of deputies. Despite the fact that the Year of the Family has passed, parliamentarians continue to make loud statements about the demographic crisis in the country. "Russia is dying out!" was how Sergei Mironov, the head of the SRDP party, loudly exclaimed on the last day of the spring session in the State Duma.

However, in the last few years, many measures have already been taken to support families, but deputies will continue to initiate new ones. In particular, the parliament supported an increase in the amount of maternity benefits for female students and graduate students to the regional subsistence level. As a result, the total amount of payments for the period of pregnancy will increase from 23 thousand to 90 thousand rubles. The deputies also approved the extension of the maternity capital program until December 31, 2030.

Such measures will be a good support for the maintenance of a child, but they will not be an incentive to increase the birth rate, said Georgy Ostapkovich, director of the Center for Economic Research at the Higher School of Economics.

— A completely different set of incentives is needed to boost demographics. This is not only a benefit and maternity capital, but also access to opportunities and a solution to housing problems," the economist believes.

In addition, the deputies decided to take care of children's health by tightening fines for sellers of vapes, cigarettes, hookahs and energy drinks. The sale of tobacco products to minors now faces a fine of up to 2 million rubles for legal entities. And from sellers of energy companies they will now be able to collect from 50 thousand to 500 thousand.

As the president noted, the spring parliamentary session "was held under the sign of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and as part of the Year of Defender of the Fatherland," which, of course, left its mark on the work of the State Duma.

For the past six months, there has been a lot of talk about supporting the participants in the special operation. In addition to the already existing large number of payments and benefits, those who fought in the DPR and LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, since their admission to the Russian Federation, have received the status of a combat veteran, meaning they will now be able to receive 4.5 thousand rubles a month.

The State Duma also approved a number of measures related to conscription. For example, fines of up to 20 thousand rubles were imposed for failure to inform the military enlistment office about the move. In addition, it was finally possible to resolve the situation when, for some reason, a conscript could not be sent to his place of service even after passing a medical examination, which is why his conscription was postponed. Now, in such cases, a conscript will be sent to serve for a year without fail.

Among the most popular topics of social profile for discussion in the walls of the State Duma was the issue of visitors. The Lower House has expanded the grounds for depriving migrants of acquired Russian citizenship for crimes committed, Vyacheslav Volodin reported to Vladimir Putin. "If you respect our laws, know the language, respect culture, traditions and faith, we are waiting for you, come and contribute to the development of our country," the speaker of the State Duma summed up.

In addition, since April, migrant children have been required to take an exam on their knowledge of the Russian language. The first results immediately showed that there was a problem — 81% out of 1762 were refused to accept documents. As a result, only 27 people successfully passed the exam. A new problem arises — experts note that thus a huge proportion of migrant children who continue to live in Russia remain "outside the educational process."

"At the moment, no mechanisms have been created for this "additional training," and according to experts, there is a high probability that these will be paid courses," Boris Panich, director of the PSP Charitable Foundation, an interregional resource center for migration and interethnic relations, previously told Izvestia.

Combating extremism, foreign agents, and local government reform

Another approved initiative allowed the blocking of films and TV series for discrediting traditional values. According to the document, the owners of audiovisual services, after the request of Roskomnadzor, will need to remove materials within a day that the Ministry of Culture did not issue or revoked the rental certificate.

The most resonant law was the one imposing a fine of up to 5,000 rubles for intentionally searching the Internet for extremist materials, including using a VPN. For distributing ads for VPN services, deputies imposed another fine of up to 80 thousand rubles for citizens, up to 150 thousand rubles for officials and up to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities.

The bill caused a heated discussion among the deputies. "Vague formulations allow millions of people to be criminalized simply for searching and viewing undesirable information," Vladislav Davankov, deputy speaker of the State Duma and a deputy from Novy People, wrote on his Telegram channel. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation also voiced significant criticism of the law. "In fact, it is proposed to punish thoughtcrime. We are implementing the most seemingly ridiculous versions of dystopias," said Alexei Kurinny, a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with members of the government on July 23, addressed the head of the Ministry of Finance, Maksut Shadaev, for an explanation of how this law should function in practice. The minister assured the president and the government members present at the meeting that ordinary users have nothing to worry about. "In practice, law enforcement officers will have to prove, Mr Putin, that there was intent and the user knew in advance that these were extremist materials and that they were included in the register," he said.

In addition, legislation against foreign agents has also been improved. For example, the deputies approved an increase in fines to 500 thousand rubles for incorrect labeling of their materials. Obviously, work in this direction will continue, as at the end of the session, the State Duma adopted in the first reading a draft law on strengthening criminal liability of foreign agents. According to the document, they will receive a sentence for the first violation of the Administrative Code.

Against the background of external pressure related to the conduct of its own and the position of Western countries, the government seeks to minimize the risks of destabilization "from within," said Ruslan Andreev, an expert at the Polylogue Group, a political consultant, in a conversation with Izvestia.

— This is, among other things, a reaction to the changing nature of threats — from external military to internal sabotage and terrorist. But it is important to understand that the success of the implementation of these initiatives will depend on the accuracy of the settings and reasonable law enforcement practices," he said.

Finally, the reform of local self-government, which the deputies have been working on for several years, has become the most important. The initial version implied the elimination of the first level of local government in rural and urban settlements. However, in this form, the project caused a mixed reaction in different regions, Andreyev recalled. In this regard, the reform was finalized and the regions, if desired, were able to maintain a two-tier system.

In the face of sanctions and external threats, the State Duma showed a high level of consolidation — more than 70%, according to Vyacheslav Volodin. At the same time, criticism from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the "New People" remains on a number of high-profile bills. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the deputies from 100% fulfilling Vladimir Putin's message to the Federal Assembly. The government also played a significant role in this, introducing about half of the draft laws. Since 2020, the relationship between the lower house of parliament and the government has been growing every year, Ruslan Andreev notes. This is due to both the amendments that increase the involvement of ministers in the work of the State Duma, and the personal position of Vyacheslav Volodin, who is trying to ensure that key bills are closely worked out in the Cabinet.