Putin and his regime have long exercised a strong degree of control over traditional print and broadcast media. It is plausible that the relatively high level of popular political support that the regime enjoys is influenced by the controlled flow of information. As in many other countries, the internet and social media offer a less controlled alternative for communication. Russia is now making an attempt to bring that under stricter regulatory control.
Russia enacts 'draconian' law for bloggers and online media
A new law imposing restrictions on users of social media has come into effect in Russia.
It means bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers must register with the mass media regulator, Roskomnadzor, and conform to the regulations that govern the country's larger media outlets.
Internet companies will also be required to allow Russian authorities access to users' information.
One human rights group called the move "draconian".
The law was approved by Russia's upper house of parliament in April.
It includes measures to ensure that bloggers cannot remain anonymous, and states that social networks must maintain six months of data on its users.
The information must be stored on servers based in Russian territory, so that government authorities can gain access.
Russian bloggers are bracing themselves for the moment when Russia's new "information security law" comes into force on 1 August. Some already share advice on how to use proxy servers in order to access social media sites that, in their view, are under threat of being closed.
It is hard to see how the law will be enforced. The servers for most of the popular social media platforms that many Russians use are based outside Russia.
Many popular bloggers are already looking for, and apparently finding, ways to "cheat" the feature that counts page visits and keep their daily unique visitor numbers just under 3000, or to make sure that the statistics are hidden altogether.
Anton Nossik, who is considered Russia's "internet guru", wrote in his LiveJournal blog that the new law didn't threaten individual bloggers directly, but provided legal grounds to block popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal and Google.
"The issue of banning all these platforms in Russia is a political one and it will be decided by only one person", Mr Nossik wrote, with a thinly veiled reference to President Vladimir Putin.
Given the practical difficulties of enforcement, it seems likely that intimidation is the primary objective. It of course provides a basis of charging a dissenter with a criminal action. Russia is also making noises about separating itself from the global internet. While they are at it, maybe they could protect the rest of the world from Russian hackers.