Russia Weighs Paid IMEI Registration for Imported Smartphones

Russia's Ministry of Digital Development is considering making registration of imported mobile devices in a unified IMEI database a paid procedure. The ministry's press service says several models are under review, including a small fixed fee for officially imported devices. For grey imports, the charge could be a percentage of the device's value.

The procedure, "including the question of fees" and their size, would be set by a government decree, the ministry added. It stressed that the text of the bill introducing the rule "may be changed". According to a telecom-market source, the revenue could go either to the federal budget or to the universal service reserve.

Timeline and effect on users

The same source says the requirement to link an IMEI to a subscriber number could take effect as early as 2027. From 2028, only devices registered in the database would work on mobile networks, and a SIM card would not function in an unregistered phone. A specific IMEI would be written into the subscriber's contract, so a SIM could not be used in a device not listed there.

Grey market in focus

It is still unclear how a phone's value would be assessed for a percentage-based fee. A source in the electronics market noted that a device imported without duties could be legalised at a cost clearly below the 22% VAT rate.

Inventive Retail Group, which runs restore: and Samsung Galaxy Store, estimates that at least half of devices priced above 100,000 rubles arrive through cargo schemes and cross-border e-commerce, amounting to at least 200 billion rubles. MTS puts the grey share of the premium segment at over 50%. The retailer says the measure could help bring the market out of the shadows.

Strategy Partners partner Sergey Kudryashov argues that unregistered devices would lose their point for smugglers, while device-to-subscriber binding also widens user identification options. He warns of a single point of failure: if the IMEI database became unavailable, mobile service could be paralysed.

The ministry first announced plans for an IMEI registry in late 2025, saying it would ease the practice of mass blocking. In May 2026 it was reported that paid registration had been dropped from a second anti-fraud bill, while the database project itself remained in force.