A tender for security services at the agency's headquarters on Kitaygorodsky Proyezd specifies that guards will receive 9mm Makarov pistols, along with rubber batons, handcuffs and metal detectors, the outlet Verstka reported.

Two armed guards will be on duty at the office around the clock, and a third guard carrying non-lethal equipment will work daytime hours on weekdays, according to the tender's technical specifications.

All three are to monitor the area around the building, "paying attention to suspicious persons and the possibility of explosive devices being planted." The contract with the contractor runs for six months, with up to 17.2 million rubles allocated for the armed guards over that period. The guard with non-lethal equipment will cost a further 3.5 million rubles.

The Moscow Times noted that guards at the Roskomnadzor office already carried rubber batons, handcuffs and metal detectors, but had not previously been issued live firearms.

The decision follows two incidents. On January 19, Alexei Belyayev, deputy head of the agency's department for control and supervision in the communications sector, died at the entrance to the building on Kitaygorodskaya. According to The Moscow Times, a 16-year-old stabbed him in the chest, reportedly in revenge for internet blockings. The minor was charged with murder motivated by hatred or enmity.

Then security services reported that an alleged assassination attempt on Roskomnadzor's leadership had been prevented on April 18. According to a statement by the Federal Security Service (FSB), a group of young people acting on orders from Ukrainian special services planned to blow up a car carrying senior officials of the agency. Seven people were detained on suspicion of involvement in preparing a terrorist attack in Moscow, Ufa, Novosibirsk and Yaroslavl, and the group's alleged leader was "neutralized," according to the security services.

At the same time, pollsters have recorded public discontent with internet restrictions. In the Levada Center's latest survey, for March, 55% of Russians were dissatisfied with Roskomnadzor's actions, while 15% fully supported them. More than 25% of respondents agreed that blockings and communications outages worsen their own lives.