Russia is trying to ensure the country’s Internet traffic, by turning this issue into a national security matter. Since there are various possible sources of conflict for Russia, control over the Internet represents a serious concern. Russia’s Security Council plans to boost the cyber security in the country. At this moment, Russia relies on foreign web hosting and this might become a real problem, since being cut off the internet would cause serious security issues. In 2011, Egypt went through a similar situation, when the state blocked the internet traffic inside the country, because of the protests which were put together through means of social media.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman stated that the relationship between the USA and Europe has recently been quite hard to predict, and they believe it is their duty to prepare for any worst case scenario. The Western countries have sanctioned Russia for the manner in which it managed to destabilize Ukraine. The targets were mainly Russian officials, the Russian oil industry, state banks and arms manufacturers. The USA and European Union are accusing Russia of supplying heavy weaponry, food supplies and soldiers to the pro-Russian separatist forces placed in eastern Ukraine.
It is believed that Rossvyaz will be placed in charge of internet domains administration. Rossvyaz would then directly control Russia’s internet domains, like the ones ending in .ru and .rf. Icann is a US-based organization which internationally controls internet domains. Experts have not yet clarified the impact of Russia’s initiative to entirely control its web domains will have on the relationship between Russia and the Western countries. Nikolai Nikiforov, the current Minister of Communications and Mass Media in Russia has stated that he had held exercises with the FSB intelligence service and the defence ministry to prepare for the scenario in which their country is blocked from accessing the internet.
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It is also rumored that the FSB has recently been given more power over the surveillance of Internet activities, ever since the exposure of Edward Snowden has been made public, in which he provides details regarding the level of internet traffic monitoring made by the USA.