Russian Government Mandates Traffic Routing Schemes via TSPU for Telecom Operators

The Russian government has adopted new regulations requiring telecom operators to submit detailed traffic routing schemes through Technical Means of Countering Threats (TSPU) to ensure the stability, security, and integrity of the information and telecommunications network “Internet” and the public communications network within Russia. This includes the routing of traffic to the connected network of any operator providing Internet access services. The official document has been published on the government’s legal information portal.

This regulation is part of licensing changes under the new law No. 473-FZ, which mandates the approval and compliance with traffic routing schemes. The required scheme must include the following information:

• Planned and possible traffic routes, locations of communication facilities with specific addresses, and locations where TSPU devices are installed;
• All planned connections of the applicant’s network to traffic exchange points, including their locations;
• All planned connections of the applicant’s network to other communication networks, specifying the interacting networks, connection points, and, if applicable, the other operator’s network to which the connection is planned;
• Planned bandwidth of communication lines connecting the applicant’s network to other networks, as well as the types of end connection interfaces;
• Technical characteristics of communication equipment planned for installation at communication facilities.

A representative from a telecom company explained that these schemes will include information about sub-operators, traffic exchange points, VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks), and more. “It seems like this regulation is mainly aimed at backbone providers, so they have to disclose data about smaller telecom operators,” he noted.

When asked why this is necessary, since by law all traffic is already supposed to go through TSPU by default, the representative suggested that existing devices might not be able to handle the load. Therefore, a network map is being requested to install additional technical equipment.

“They’ve piqued our curiosity,” joked Philipp Kulin, creator of “ESHER II,” after reviewing the document. The expert speculated: “They want to see how your traffic is actually routed. The focus (though not specialization, oddly) is on downlinks. There are a few possibilities: either they want to ensure that you’re definitely routing downlink traffic with channels under 10Gb through TSPU (since those aren’t required to have TSPU), or they want to catch cases where traffic over 10Gb is bypassing TSPU (for example, if the devices can’t handle it). Or maybe it’s all of the above—they just want to make sure you’re not trying to confuse them.”

A representative from a small telecom operator expressed surprise at the document’s content. According to him, “Everything already goes through the TSPU of the upstream operator before reaching the small operator,” so it’s unclear why additional schemes are needed. “It’s just another attempt to control everything possible, without any clear purpose,” he suggested.