Original Russian-language document. Criminal Code (УК РФ), Ch. 29, Art. 276 (“Шпионаж”). Current redaction (expanded 2022; note repealed by Federal Law No. 510-FZ of 28 December 2024). Retrieved 19 July 2026; verify wording against the official publication at pravo.gov.ru. Part of the TOT Insights collection of Russian federal security-law provisions used to police collaboration, information-sharing and dissent in the occupied territories.
Article 276 criminalises espionage — the transfer, gathering, theft or storage of state secrets or, on the instructions of a foreign intelligence service, of other information for use against Russian security — committed by a foreign citizen or stateless person. It carries 10 to 20 years. A 2022 amendment added a limb criminalising the transfer, gathering, theft or storage, in conditions of armed conflict, of information that may be used against the Russian Armed Forces — which covers exactly the act of passing coordinates, troop positions or movements to Ukraine. Read together with treason (Article 275, for Russian citizens), it means a resident who reports a Russian military position faces treason if they hold a Russian passport and espionage if they do not: passport status changes the article, not the exposure.
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Article 276 — Espionage
The transfer, gathering, theft or storage, for the purpose of transfer to a foreign state, an international or foreign organisation or their representatives, of information constituting a state secret; as well as the transfer or gathering, on the instructions of a foreign intelligence service or a person acting in its interests, of other information for use against the security of the Russian Federation; or the transfer, gathering, theft or storage, for the purpose of transfer to the enemy, of information that may be used against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and bodies of the Russian Federation, committed in conditions of armed conflict, hostilities or other actions involving the use of weapons and military equipment with the participation of the Russian Federation — that is, espionage, where these acts are committed by a foreign citizen or stateless person, —
shall be punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term of ten to twenty years.
Note. Repealed by Federal Law No. 510-FZ of 28 December 2024.
Relevance to coercion in the occupied territories
This is the direct answer to “not sharing information with the enemy.” The 2022 amendment added a limb criminalising the transfer, gathering, theft or storage, in conditions of armed conflict, of information that could be used against the Russian Armed Forces — which covers exactly the act of passing coordinates, troop positions or movements to Ukraine. Espionage is the charge for foreign citizens and stateless persons. Read together with treason (Article 275, which covers Russian citizens), a resident who reports a Russian military position faces treason if they hold a Russian passport and espionage if they do not. Passport status changes the article, not the exposure.