Citation, commencement, extent and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Security Act 2023 (Foreign Activities and Foreign Influence Registration Scheme: Specified Persons) (Russia) Regulations 2025.

(2) They come into force on the day on which Part 4 of the 2023 Act (foreign activities and foreign influence registration scheme) comes fully into force.

(3) They extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(4) In these Regulations—

“the 2023 Act” means the National Security Act 2023;

“commencement date” means the date on which these Regulations come into force.

Specified persons

2.  The foreign powers listed in Part 1 of the Schedule, and the other persons listed in Part 2 of the Schedule, are specified persons.

Pre-commencement arrangements

3.—(1) This regulation applies where—

(a)prior to the commencement date, P makes a foreign activity arrangement with a foreign power or other person specified in regulation 2 (“the arrangement”), and

(b)the arrangement continues to have effect on the commencement date.

(2) Section 65(4) of the 2023 Act (requirement to register foreign activity arrangements) applies in respect of the arrangement as if, for “before the end of the period of 10 days beginning with the day on which P makes the arrangement” there were substituted “before the end of the period of three months beginning with the commencement date”.

(3) During the period of three months beginning with the commencement date, the offences under section 67(2) and (3) of the 2023 Act (offence of carrying out etc. relevant activities pursuant to unregistered foreign activity arrangement) do not apply in relation to a relevant activity carried out, or arranged to be carried out, pursuant to the arrangement.

Review

4.—(1) The Secretary of State must from time to time—

(a)carry out a review of the regulatory provision contained in these Regulations, and

(b)publish a report setting out the conclusions of the review.

(2) The first report must be published before the end of the period of 5 years beginning with the commencement date.

(3) Subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding 5 years.

(4) Section 30(4) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015(3) (“the 2015 Act”) requires that a report published under this regulation must, in particular—

(a)set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory provision referred to in paragraph (1)(a) of this regulation,

(b)assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved,

(c)assess whether those objectives remain appropriate, and

(d)if those objectives remain appropriate, assess the extent to which they could be achieved in another way which involves less onerous regulatory provision.

(5) In this regulation, “regulatory provision” has the same meaning as in sections 28 to 32 of the 2015 Act (see section 32 of that Act).

Regulation 2

ScheduleSpecified Persons

Part 1Foreign powers

1.  The President of Russia in their public capacity.

2.  The Government of Russia (including any part of the government) and all of its agencies and authorities, including—

(a)Presidential Executive Office (Administratsiya Prezidenta Rossiyskoy Federatsii);

(b)Security Council (Sovet bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii);

(c)State Council (Gosudarstvennyy Sovet Rossiyskoy Federatsii);

(d)all Ministers (in that capacity);

(e)all Ministries (including the Ministry of the Interior);

(f)the armed forces, including—

(i)Ground Forces (Sukhoputnyye voyskia - SV),

(ii)Navy (Voyenno-Morskoy Flot - VMF),

(iii)Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno-kosmicheskiye sily - VKS),

(iv)Airborne Forces (Vozdushno-desantnyye voyska - VDV),

(v)Strategic Rocket Forces (Raketnyye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya - RVSN),

(vi)Special Operation Forces (Sily spetsialnykh operatsiy - SSO);

(g)Federal National Guard Troops Service (Federalnaya sluzhba voysk natsionalnoy gvardii);

(h)Federal Security Services (Federal’naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii - FSB);

(i)any other intelligence service, including—

(i)Main Intelligence Directorate (Glavnoye upravleniye General’nogo shtaba Vooruzhonnykh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii - GRU),

(ii)Foreign Intelligence Service (Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki Rossiyskoy Federatsii - SVR).

3.  The government of a federal subject of Russia.

Part 2Persons controlled by a foreign power

4.  Federal Assembly of Russia (including either the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) or the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya duma)).

5.  The judiciary of Russia.

6.  United Russia Party (Vserossiyskaya politicheskaya partiya “Yedinaya Rossiya”).

7.  Communist Party of Russia (Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii).

8.  Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (Liberal’no-demokraticheskaya partiya Rossii).

9.  A Just Russia party (Spravedlivaya Rossiya - Za pravdu).

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations specify certain Russian foreign powers and other persons as “specified persons” for the purposes of Part 4 of the National Security Act 2023 (c. 32) (“the 2023 Act”) (foreign activities and foreign influence registration scheme).

The specified foreign powers are those listed in Part 1 of the Schedule. In summary, they are the President of Russia, the Government of Russia (including all its agencies and authorities) and the governments of the federal subjects of Russia. There are 83 federal subjects, including republics and oblasts. The specified persons who are not foreign powers are listed in Part 2 of the Schedule. They are the Federal Assembly of Russia, the judiciary of Russia and certain political parties.

The effect of specification is that a person who enters into an arrangement with a specified person and is directed under that arrangement to carry out activities in the United Kingdom, or arrange for others to do so, must register the arrangement before acting (see sections 65 and 67 of the 2023 Act). In addition, a specified person who is not a foreign power must not carry out activities in the United Kingdom unless those activities have been registered in advance (see section 68 of the 2023 Act). There are criminal offences in the 2023 Act for failure to act in accordance with these obligations and prohibitions.

Regulation 3 makes provision to apply the relevant requirements under Part 4 of the 2023 Act to existing arrangements or agreements made prior to the commencement of these Regulations, and makes a transitional provision.

An impact assessment accompanies these Regulations and is published on the www.gov.uk website. Copies may also be obtained by e-mailing firs@homeoffice.gov.uk or writing to the State Threats Unit, Home Office, Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.