ST. PETERSBURG, June 26 (RAPSI) - The Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, will establish an intra-agency working group to investigate user data leaks to US intelligence agencies.

Several US Internet companies have allegedly violated Russian citizens' rights by providing US intelligence agencies access to their servers.

Lawmaker Ruslan Gattarov, who heads the Federation Council's information policy commission, proposed the initiative at the house meeting on Wednesday. 

Speaker Valentina Matviyenko backed the proposal and asked Gattarov to lead the group.

Millions of Russian Internet users have suffered from the US companies' actions. The foreign state's access to the personal data of Russian citizens violates the secrecy of private correspondence, bank secrecy, the Russian Constitution and several federal laws, as well as the international data protection convention, he said.

He added that only Microsoft representatives attended the commission's open-door meeting on the data leak scandal last week. 

"The others referred us to US Ambassador Michael McFaul," Gattarov said. "They hid behind his back, thereby admitting their guilt."

He is confident that the possible violation of citizens' rights should be investigated.