MOSCOW, January 17 (RAPSI) — A Russian court said on Tuesday it had rejected a complaint filed by Ookla LLC against a 1-million ruble fine for not storing the personal data of Russian users in databases on Russian territory.

The court found that the arguments about the absence of evidence indicating that the company collected personal data in Russia are untenable and cannot serve as a basis for canceling the court decisions that have entered into force, the press release reads.

Last July, a justice of the peace of the Moscow Tagansky district found Ookla LLC guilty of committing an administrative offense, a violation of the federal legislation on personal data and fined the company one million rubles.

Based on the results of an audit conducted by Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor, it was established that Ookla LLC collected personal data of Russian citizens failing to ensure that the recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, clarification, and extraction of personal data using databases located on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Earlier, Roskomnadzor has repeatedly reminded that any operator of personal data is obliged to ensure the recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, clarification (update, change), extraction of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation using databases located on its national territory, since the storage of such personal data on Russia’s territory provides the necessary level of security.