(CC0/PD) pxhere
Russia is “legally and technologically” ready to disconnect from the global Internet if necessary, said the country’s former President, Dmitry Medvedev, on Monday.
According to Interfax, cited by Moscow Times, Russian authorities have long been restricting and controlling the Internet in the country. Although the “Sovereign Internet” law passed in 2019 gives Russia the ability to isolate itself from the rest of the ‘World Wide Web’, experts are uncertain about its ability to implement this technology.
Although Medvedev said that Russia is able to isolate its Internet, he stressed that sees no reason for such.
Medvedev, vice president of the Security Council of Russia, said that the United States retains “fundamental rights of control” of the Internet, which could result in Russia’s disconnection from the global Internet “if something extraordinary happens”, further indicating that the country may be disconnected from the SWIFT international payments system.
“We even had to create our own information transmission system so that we could exchange electronic messages in case this happens suddenly,” he said.
These statements come in the wake of mass protests in more than 100 Russian cities over the past two weekends, triggered by the arrest of opponent Alexei Navalny. Last week, Russia’s communications regulator said it would fine seven media companies for not removing videos promoting the protests.
Taísa Pagno //
