Putin signs law to isolate Russian internet
Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a law on Wednesday that intends to give the country a “sovereign internet” the Kremlin could disconnect from the global web.
Moscow says the move is to “ensure the safe and sustainable functioning” of Russia’s internet in the event that hostile powers attempt to switch it off from abroad. But critics say the move is intended to further clamp down on dissent amid already-tightening restrictions on freedom of speech.
The bill, which goes into force on November 1, requires internet service providers to filter all traffic through special nodes under the control of Roscomnadzor, the Kremlin’s internet censor. The Kremlin will compel ISPs and other communications services to test the system at an unspecified time later this year.
Though it remains largely unclear how — or even whether — the disconnect would work in practice, the move would theoretically make it easier for Roscomnadzor to enforce its highly inefficient blocks of banned websites, messaging app Telegram, and non-compliant VPN services.
Though Russia has increased its control over the internet in recent years — including a recent law banning “fake news” and insulting public officials — its laws are applied selectively and are mostly easy to bypass.
Roscomnadzor boss Alexander Zharov said last month that the move was “a pretty serious weapon, but I hope that, like nuclear weapons in the possession of several countries, it’ll remain dormant”.