Kremlin Declines To Comment On Security Service's Request To Access Yandex User Files

A Kremlin spokesman declined on Tuesday to comment on media reports that said the national security service, the FSB, wanted access to user data stored in Yandex mail and its cloud service

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2019) A Kremlin spokesman declined on Tuesday to comment on media reports that said the national security service, the FSB, wanted access to user data stored in Yandex mail and its cloud service.

"It's not a topic for the Kremlin. You should ask the FSB or the government. It is not a topic for the president's administration," Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

A 2016 law allows the security agency to ask any internet service on the Russian government's list of "information disseminators" for encryption keys, which are algorithms used to unscramble randomly encrypted data.

A Russian newspaper, RBK, reported that Internet giant Yandex has refused to hand over the keys to Yandex.Mail and Yandex.Disc, arguing it would let the FSB access user passwords to its many online services. Russia banned messaging app Telegram for refusing to cooperate last year.