Russia used Cellebrite tools to access Andrei Pivovarov's phone months after contract cancellation, report says

Russian authorities used forensic tools from Cellebrite to break into the phone of political prisoner Andrei Pivovarov, according to a new investigation by Citizen Lab. The report says the access took place months after Cellebrite said it had cancelled its contracts with Russia. It adds a new layer to long-running concerns about how commercial digital forensics tools can be used against dissidents and opposition figures.

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Pivovarov, who was the director of Open Russia, was arrested in May 2021 and later released more than three years afterwards in a high-profile exchange that also involved the US journalist Evan Gershkovich. According to the report, Russian authorities extracted information from his phone about his contacts and his personal and professional life. The material reportedly included messages from apps such as WhatsApp and Viber, and documents provided to Pivovarov during his prosecution were said to show how the data was used in building a criminal case against him.

Pivovarov said the intrusion was a violation of his privacy and could have put colleagues at risk. He said authorities appeared to be looking for messages to other colleagues from his organisation and from other politicians, and that some of those contacts left Russia soon after his arrest. The report also says some of his contacts were later targeted by Coldriver, a Russia-linked group, although Citizen Lab said that link warrants further investigation.

The findings were described as being made with high confidence and were said to be confirmed by a document prepared by Russian authorities and given to Pivovarov during the criminal case. The case matters because it raises questions about the limits of control vendors have over powerful forensic software once it is sold. Cellebrite's tools are used by police forces in several countries and are designed to extract and examine data from mobile devices.

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The report places the company's technology in the wider debate over surveillance, due process and the protection of political opponents, especially when access to private communications can feed criminal proceedings. It also highlights the vulnerability of people connected to opposition networks when their devices are seized. In this case, the alleged extraction of contacts and messages could have exposed not only Pivovarov but also colleagues and other political figures.

The report does not say whether those contacts were aware their information had been obtained, but it suggests the consequences extended beyond one individual's phone. What remains unclear is how the tools were obtained or used after Cellebrite said its Russia contracts had ended, and what safeguards, if any, were in place to prevent continued use. The report also leaves open the full extent of the data taken and whether any further investigations will follow.

For now, the case is likely to intensify scrutiny of commercial surveillance technology and the accountability of companies whose products can be used in criminal investigations and political cases alike.

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