Experts: Russian Secret Services Monitor Skype Communications

Russia's special services are now able to listen to private Skype chats and track users' locations. Intelligence services have for years have been monitoring Skype communications, several participants in the Russian information security industry have told Russian newspaper Vedomosti. According to security experts, access to correspondence and Skype conversations within the Russian intelligence community does not always go through the court system – it is often obtained on a “simple request.” After Microsoft acquired Skype in May 2011, it updated its software with a technology allowing “legitimate wiretapping,” an expert told the publication. Since then, any user account can be switched to a special mode in which the encryption keys that were previously generated on a user’s mobile device or computer would be generated on Skype’s server. With access to the server, anyone can listen to the conversation or read the correspondence, including short messages sent to mobile phones. Microsoft provides the opportunity to use this technology to security services all around the world, including Russia, the expert explained.

http://en.ria.ru/papers/20130314/180007226/Russian-Press-at-a-Glance-Thursday-March-14-2013.html
http://rt.com/news/skype-wiretapping-intelligence-agencies-237/

UPDATE:
Skype denies providing access to communications to Russian secret services
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2013/03/14/reject/