Is cold email legal in Russia? A 2026 guide for B2B senders
Short answer: you may send an individual business email to a specific Russian company, but you may not send the same commercial offer to a list without the recipients' prior consent. Russian law has no general B2B exemption. Below is why, where the line is, and what the competition authority (FAS) and courts say as of October 2026.
Advertising by email requires the recipient's prior consent (Art. 18(1) of Federal Law 38-FZ “On Advertising”). The fine for a company is RUB 300,000-1,000,000 (Art. 14.3(4.1) of the Code of Administrative Offences). An email is not advertising if its content is genuinely written for one addressee. Inserting a name into a template is not enough.
Which laws apply
- 38-FZ “On Advertising” - decides whether an email is advertising and needs consent.
- 152-FZ “On Personal Data” - applies when you email a named employee using their name and personal work address.
- Code of Administrative Offences (Arts. 14.3 and 13.11) - fines for both.
- Criminal Code (Art. 272.1) - criminal liability for using illegally obtained personal data, such as leaked databases.
When an email is advertising
Under Art. 3(1) of 38-FZ, advertising is information that is distributed by any means, addressed to an indefinite circle of persons, and aimed at promoting a product or service.
The FAS position (letter АК/24455/13) is that sending to a list does not make the circle “definite”: if the same text could go to anyone, it is advertising even when each email has a name in it. In April 2026 the St. Petersburg FAS office treated a commercial offer emailed to a CEO's address from the state register as unlawful advertising.
A message is not advertising when it is individual: it refers to the recipient's specific situation and could not be sent to another company unchanged. Courts have accepted this in several cases, but practice is mixed.
Consent
- Consent must be obtained before sending; the burden of proof is on the sender.
- The Supreme Arbitration Court (Plenum Resolution No. 58, para. 15) confirmed this applies to email.
- An opt-out link does not replace consent.
- A June 2026 Supreme Court ruling (case А07-5689/2025) accepted a discount in exchange for consent, provided the consent was a separate, clear statement.
Personal data
Generic addresses like info@ or sales@ are not personal data (case А40-139096/2022). A named address together with a name and position is. Russian rules also require a separate consent document (since 1 Sep 2025), storing Russian citizens' data in Russia (since 1 Jul 2025) and notifying Roskomnadzor. See 152-FZ and email.
Fines
| Violation | Rule | Legal entity |
|---|---|---|
| Email advertising without consent | Art. 14.3(4.1) CAO | RUB 300,000-1,000,000 |
| Processing personal data without legal basis | Art. 13.11(1) CAO | RUB 150,000-300,000 |
| No notification to Roskomnadzor | Art. 13.11(10) CAO | RUB 100,000-300,000 |
Checklist
- Write only to companies you can genuinely help.
- Use corporate addresses the company published itself.
- Make every email individual - a real reason tied to that company.
- Identify yourself and your company.
- Offer a one-line opt-out and honour it immediately.
- Never use leaked or bought personal-data lists.
FAQ
Does Russian law have a B2B exception for cold email?
No. Art. 18 of 38-FZ applies to any recipient, including companies.
Is personalising the name enough?
No. FAS treats a template with a name inserted as advertising.
Do emails need ad labelling (erid)?
Roskomnadzor's letter of 24.10.2023 No. 03-97847 says labelling rules do not apply to email advertising. The point is disputed.
This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Laws change - check the current wording (consultant.ru, garant.ru) before launching a campaign and consult a lawyer in disputed cases.
You can do all of this yourself in Lidarro. Or hand it over to us as a done-for-you service: we build and check the list, write the copy, run the outreach and hand you the leads. We take on the financial risks, including fines.
Pricing depends on your niche and lead value, so we quote individually.
Read next
- 152-FZ and business email: what counts as personal dataGeneric company addresses vs named employee emails under Russian personal data law: consent, Art. 15 direct marketing, data localisation and Roskomnadzor notification.
- How to keep cold emails out of the spam folderDomain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), warm-up, sending volume and content rules that keep business emails in the inbox - including Yandex and Mail.ru.
- How to choose OKVED industry codes for prospecting in RussiaOKVED is Russia's industry classification. How to pick codes for your ideal customer, main vs additional codes, and common mistakes.
- How to find a Russian company's email addressWhere Russian companies publish emails - website pages, the state register, maps - and how to choose the right address for a business letter.