Telegram Ads in Russia — the FAS Position, the Transition Period to 31 December 2026 and Measured CPMs

TL;DR

Russia is the biggest single country in our Euro data, and the one where the law matters more than the price.

• The legal position. Since 1 September 2025 the Law on Advertising prohibits advertising on information resources to which access is restricted. On 5 March 2026 the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said that placing ads on Telegram shows signs of breaching that rule; on 25 March it announced a transition period until the end of 2026 during which liability is not applied (Interfax, 25 March 2026).
• What that means. Advertising into Russia through Telegram is, in the regulator’s reading, unlawful but not penalised until 31 December 2026. What happens on 1 January 2027 is not known.
• The price. €2.68 CPM, 0.65% CTR and €0.415 per click over 163M impressions on 62 Euro accounts (3 October 2026) — one of the most expensive countries we buy, not a cheap one.
• Labelling. Internet advertising aimed at consumers in Russia must be marked “реклама”, name the advertiser and carry an identifier assigned by an ad data operator (ORD). That is the advertiser’s job; Adsly does not label ads for you.
• Crypto. Since 1 September 2026 advertising of digital currencies is prohibited, and ads for licensed crypto intermediaries are tightly scripted.
• Account type. TON-funded ads are not served in Russia. A Russia campaign runs on a Euro account.

This guide maps the rules and links the sources; it is not legal advice, and the decision to advertise into Russia during the transition period is the advertiser’s.

What it costs — measured on our accounts

Our own Euro accounts, campaigns targeted at Russia only, all niches blended, as of 3 October 2026:

Metric	Russia	For comparison: India
CPM	€2.68	€0.25
CTR	0.65%	1.12%
Cost per click	€0.415	€0.022
Impressions	163.0M	17.3M
Accounts	62	8

Russia is our largest base by far, and its click costs about nineteen times more than India’s. Our all-Euro average is €2.97 CPM, so Russia sits just under it; among single countries only a few small rows are dearer. There is no TON price to quote: TON-funded ads are not served in Russia. The CPM by country guide has the full table.

Who is on the other side of those impressions: 136 million internet users in October 2025, 94.4% of the population, with a median age of 40.3 (DataReportal, Digital 2026: The Russian Federation). Telegram publishes no user count by country. The measurement company Mediascope put Telegram’s monthly reach in Russia at 93.6 million people and its average daily reach at 74.3 million in December 2025 (3DNews, 29 January 2026) — figures from before the restrictions of 2026 described below, so read them as a ceiling, not as today’s audience.

The legal status: what was said and when

The sequence matters, because the rule is older than the headlines.

• 1 September 2025. Part 10.7 of article 5 of Federal Law No. 38-FZ “On Advertising” takes effect. It prohibits distributing advertising on the information resources of organisations recognised as undesirable or banned as extremist or terrorist, “and on other information resources to which access is restricted in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation” (text of article 5).
• August 2025 – February 2026. Roskomnadzor restricts calls in Telegram in August 2025 and in February 2026 states that the messenger still does not comply with Russian law (Profile, 25 March 2026).
• 5–10 March 2026. On 5 March the FAS says that advertising on resources with restricted access breaks the law. Its clarification of 10 March spells it out: because Roskomnadzor has taken measures to restrict access to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, VPN services, Telegram and WhatsApp, the service sees signs of a breach of part 10.7 in advertising placed on them, and under article 38 of the law both the advertiser and the ad distributor are liable (Retail.ru, 10 March 2026).
• 25 March 2026. The FAS announces that business needs time to adapt, and that for Telegram and YouTube a transition period will run until the end of 2026, during which liability measures are not applied. For Instagram, Facebook and VPN services enforcement continues (Interfax, 25 March 2026).

What is not settled:

1. The transition period is a statement by the regulator, not a change in the law. Part 10.7 has not been amended. Lawyers noted in March that the FAS had not said whether the period covers only contracts already signed or new ones as well (Marillion, 2026).
2. The fine, once liability is applied. The same lawyers cite part 1 of article 14.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences: 100,000 to 500,000 roubles for a legal entity, 4,000 to 20,000 for an official.
3. After 31 December 2026. We have found no official statement extending the period or ending it early. Plan as if it ends on that date.
4. A foreign advertiser. How the rule would be enforced against a company outside Russia that buys ads through Telegram’s own platform has not been tested in public. That is a question for a Russian lawyer, not something this guide can answer.

What to do — three options

1. Run Russia inside the transition period

The ads deliver: our Euro accounts are measuring Russia to this day. If you run it, treat it as a campaign with an end date — 31 December 2026 — and do not build a funnel that depends on it surviving into 2027. Label the ads as the next section describes.

2. Reach Russian speakers outside Russia

The targeting form selects countries and languages separately. A campaign with Russian as the language and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, the UAE or Germany as the country reaches Russian-language readers who are not in Russia, and the Law on Advertising applies where advertising is distributed on the territory of the Russian Federation (article 2). Check the local advertising law of each country instead — our guides for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan cover theirs. We have no measurement of how large the Russian-speaking audience is in any of these countries.

3. Move budget to neighbouring markets

What we have measured on Euro accounts, single-country campaigns, 3 October 2026: Uzbekistan €0.20 CPM over 6.4M impressions; the UAE €1.42 over 295k; Georgia €4.00 over 144k on three accounts; Kazakhstan €1.09 on a thin base of about 11,000 impressions. Cheaper impressions do not mean the same buyer, so move a test budget first.

What a Russia-targeted ad must carry

Article 18.1 of the Law on Advertising has applied to internet advertising since 1 September 2022 (text of article 18.1):

• Who. Advertisers, ad distributors and operators of ad systems that place internet advertising “aimed at attracting the attention of consumers located in the Russian Federation” must submit information about it to Roskomnadzor through an ad data operator — an ORD (part 3).
• The label. The ad must carry the mark “реклама” and name the advertiser, or the site or page that contains information about the advertiser (part 16).
• The identifier. Internet advertising may be distributed only if an ORD has assigned it an advertising identifier — the token usually called erid (part 17).

What this means in practice:

1. We do not label automatically. Adsly does not register creatives with an ORD and does not insert identifiers into your ads. If your campaign is aimed at people in Russia, registering the creative, obtaining the identifier and reporting the impressions is yours to arrange, usually through an ORD or an agency that works with one.
2. Telegram’s terms say the same. The Telegram Ad Platform terms make the advertiser “solely responsible for correct labelling of the Advertising Materials” (Telegram Ad Platform Terms of Service).
3. Labelling does not cure part 10.7. A correctly labelled ad on a restricted resource is still an ad on a restricted resource. The two rules are separate.

Adsly setup for Russia

1. Account. A Euro account only: TON-funded ads are not served in Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine. A Euro account can link to a website, add a custom button and have a declined ad escalated to a human through us.
2. Opening. A Euro account opens in 2 business days as a World account: you choose the countries for each campaign inside it. Minimum ad budget: €500; €1,000 for crypto and for stocks and investing. Payment in any cryptocurrency, no KYC. Price your Euro account →
3. Targeting. Country: Russia. Language: Russian. Then topics or the channels your customers already follow. The form also has a Locations field that searches locations inside the selected country; which ones it offers for Russia is visible in the account, and we have not measured city-level campaigns.
4. Frequency. Views per User: start at 1–2 (the form allows 1 to 4).
5. Timing. We have no hour-of-day data, so we publish no “best hours”. Read the hourly analytics of your own campaigns.
6. Access and moderation. You get the account itself on ads.telegram.org and the Adsly Pro Panel on app.adsly.pro. Over 98% of the 13,199 campaigns we measured in September 2026 had a moderation decision within three hours; across all niches, 95.6% of reviewed ads on our Euro accounts end up approved.

Where the legal line runs

Adsly opens the account and gives you the tools. We do not verify licences, we do not label ads, and opening an account does not approve any ad. What may be advertised to people in Russia is decided by Russian law and by Telegram’s moderation, and that responsibility stays with the advertiser:

• Placement itself. Part 10.7 of article 5 and the FAS position above. Liability falls on the advertiser and on the distributor; the transition period runs to 31 December 2026.
• Labelling. Article 18.1: the mark, the advertiser, the identifier, the report through an ORD.
• Crypto. Federal Law No. 282-FZ of 4 August 2026 “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights” took effect on 1 September 2026 (official publication). The companion Federal Law No. 283-FZ, in force the same day, amended the Law on Advertising (official publication): article 7 now lists digital currencies among the things that may not be advertised at all, and the new article 29.2 scripts the advertising of services that organise their circulation: the ad must name the organiser and warn that digital currencies are high-risk and the money can be lost in full, and it must not name specific digital currencies, promise returns — even on the basis of past results — or forecast prices (text of article 29.2). Paying with digital currency inside Russia remains prohibited (Buh.ru, 5 August 2026). The Bank of Russia, which now licenses and supervises the intermediaries, set out the design in December 2025: unqualified investors may buy only the most liquid cryptocurrencies, up to 300,000 roubles a year through one intermediary, and liability for illegal intermediaries starts on 1 July 2027 (Bank of Russia, 23 December 2025).
• Gambling and betting. Article 27 of the Law on Advertising allows advertising of risk-based games and bets only in the places it lists — night-time television and radio, the gambling venues themselves, specialised print — with separate, narrow rules for bookmakers (text of article 27). Telegram’s ad guidelines prohibit gambling ads as well: §5.6 says ads must not promote “online or offline gambling, gaming, or casino-based activities involving real money, prizes, or goods of any value” (guidelines). With us gambling runs in two formats only — an official gambling account, ad budget from €25,000, or a test launch on our infrastructure, ad budget from €5,000 — described in the gambling policy guide. Neither changes Russian law.
• Pharma and CBD. We do not take them, in any country.

FAQ

Is advertising on Telegram banned in Russia in 2026?

The Federal Antimonopoly Service says it breaches part 10.7 of article 5 of the Law on Advertising, which bans advertising on resources to which access is restricted. On 25 March 2026 the same service announced a transition period until the end of 2026 in which liability is not applied. So: unlawful in the regulator’s reading, not penalised for now.

Can I still run Russia-targeted campaigns right now?

Technically yes, on a Euro account — our own accounts are delivering there. Legally you are relying on the regulator’s statement that it will not apply liability before the end of 2026. Whether to rely on it is your decision, ideally taken with a Russian lawyer.

Do I have to label a Telegram ad aimed at Russia?

Yes, if it is aimed at consumers in Russia: the mark “реклама”, the advertiser, and an identifier assigned by an ad data operator, with the data reported to Roskomnadzor through that operator. Adsly does not do this for you, and Telegram’s terms put correct labelling on the advertiser.

Why is the Russian CPM so high?

We can only say what we measured: €2.68 on 163M impressions, against €0.25 in India and €0.20 in Uzbekistan. Russian-language Telegram advertising has had advertisers bidding in it for years, which is the likely reason — an inference, not a measurement.

Does the FAS position concern only Telegram’s own ad platform?

No. Part 10.7 covers any advertising on a restricted resource. The first case the FAS opened, on 5 March 2026, concerned an advertisement in a Telegram channel, not a sponsored message (Unisender, 2026).

What about crypto in Russia?

Advertising digital currencies has been prohibited since 1 September 2026. Only the services of licensed intermediaries may be advertised, with a mandatory risk warning and without naming coins, promising returns or forecasting prices. And paying with crypto inside Russia is still banned.

Will the transition period be extended?

Nobody outside the FAS knows, and we have found no official statement either way. It was announced as running until the end of 2026. Plan for it to end then and treat an extension as a bonus.

What are the alternatives?

Russian-language campaigns aimed at other countries, and the neighbouring markets we have measured: Uzbekistan at €0.20 CPM, the UAE at €1.42, Georgia at €4.00, Kazakhstan at €1.09 on a thin base. Each has its own advertising law; none of them is covered by the Russian rule on restricted resources.

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Russia is the rare market where the question is not what an impression costs but whether the ad should be there at all. The regulator calls Telegram advertising unlawful and has promised not to punish it until 31 December 2026; labelling, the crypto rules and the gambling rules apply on top of that. If you run it, run it with an end date, labelled, and with a replacement market already tested. Questions about the account: @adsly_pro.