RUSSIAN INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY AND INFRASTRUCTURAL COERCION: THE CASE OF TSPU
Journal: AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research
Year: 2026

This paper examines how the Russian state, following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, accelerated coercive controls over internet infrastructure through the rapid deployment of Technical Measures to Combat Threats (TSPU). Building on Maxigas and ten Oever’s (2023) framework of infrastructural ideologies, the study introduces infrastructural coercion as a crisis-driven strategy, contrasting it with hegemonic models reliant on tacit compliance. The research combines analysis of legislative texts with