January 15, 2024

They Are Listening to You


They Are Listening to You
Medical office in a polyclinic in Moscow. stroi.mos.ru, Wikimedia Commons

The Moscow Department of Health has installed listening devices in doctors' offices, per Order No. 1241, "On the Replication of the Project for Audio Monitoring of Outpatient Doctor Appointments." According to the order, audio recording devices are mandated to be placed in doctors' offices to assess caregivers' performance and adherence to Ministry regulations.

The directive specifically prohibits actions such as making fun of patients, criticizing management, uttering complex terms, and using phrases and words like "molodoy chelovek" (young man), "khvatit" (enough), or "yasno" (clear).

Maria Gubareva, an obstetrician-gynecologist and deputy head of the All-Russian Trade Union of Healthcare Workers Deystvie (Action), asserts that control over conversations is already underway, and the order merely legitimizes the practice. Gubareva wonders whether patients’ consent to audio recording will be sought or if contacting a government agency implies that the patient automatically agrees that all intimate details, which may not be disclosed openly even to a doctor, will be accessible to third parties. 

The new regulation follows a trend of invasive new rules in Russia, including these examples:

  • According to a recently adopted law, taxi services are required to provide the Federal Security Service (FSB) with access to their databases, sharing with the agency information on all their passengers.
  • A leak from Russian tech giant Yandex revealed that the Alice (don't call her Alexa) smart speaker can activate its microphone for several seconds, even when the user does not say its name.
  • VKontakte, the largest social network in Russia, has collaborated closely with law enforcement agencies for many years, sharing sensitive information about its users.
  • Law enforcement agencies have successfully apprehended individuals evading mobilization through the use of cameras and a facial recognition system.

Governmental agencies are not the only entities gaining access to Russians' data. In 2022, the number of leaked records containing personal data on Russians was 4.5 times higher than the country’s population, totaling 667 million. The frequency of data breaches continues to escalate, with 705 million records leaked into the public domain in just the first half of 2023. 

You Might Also Like

The Women with the White Scarves
  • January 08, 2024

The Women with the White Scarves

Family members of drafted soldiers picketed solo in Moscow demanding the return of their loved ones from the war in Ukraine.
Student Sentenced for Spying
  • January 03, 2024

Student Sentenced for Spying

For the first time, Russia has sentenced a student for spying. The 18-year-old was a high-achieving student.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955