In a December 6, 2016 ruling [No. 35-KG16-18], the Supreme Court of Russia confirmed that secret recordings of telephone conversations can be admissible evidence in certain circumstances, changing a long-standing position.  

The plaintiff in the case had made audio recordings of telephone conversations in which the other party to the conversation was recorded without knowledge or consent.  The plaintiff sought to use the recordings to prove that the spouse of the person she lent money to was also a party to a loan, so that the spouse would be responsible for repaying the amount borrowed after the couple had divorced.  The lower court, however, held that the recordings were inadmissible.

Although the recordings were made without the other party’s knowledge—which was the reason the lower court ruled that the recordings were inadmissible—the Supreme Court decided that the privacy rules and limitations protecting private life were not applicable because (1) the recordings were made by one of the parties to the conversation and (2) the recordings were related to a contractual relationship between the parties.  The case was returned for review on the merits to the lower court, which will be required to accept the recordings as evidence.

Prior to this case, Russian courts had always rejected recordings of conversations made without consent of all parties as improperly collected and intruding on privacy—and therefore inadmissible.  The new position of the Supreme Court may lead to widespread admission of secretly-made recordings as evidence of contractual terms and parties’ verbal arrangements.