President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a “sovereign internet” bill which will allow Russian authorities to isolate the country’s internet, a move decried by rights groups.

Russian lawmakers insist the new law is necessary to ensure the security of Russia’s online networks but critics say the vaguely worded bill gives new censorship powers to government monitors.

The text of the law was published Wednesday but it will not come into effect until November.



 Deep state actors have used the MSM to spread a false narrative about Trump in hopes that a civil war would break out in America. </s> Deputies first submitted the measures to tighten state control over the internet in December, citing the need to respond to an “aggressive” U.S. national cybersecurity strategy. It has drawn fierce criticism from civil society groups over fears that it would lead Russia to follow China’s example in establishing an isolated internet landscape.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill that seeks to establish Russia’s “internet sovereignty” into law.

The law will seek to create an alternative domain name system (DNS) to protect the Russian-language section of the internet in case it is disconnected from the World Wide Web. So far, no country has ever been deliberately disconnected from the internet.

Although Russia’s state media regulator and major tech firms backed the steps to unplug from foreign servers, experts criticized the bill as being too vague and impossible to implement.

A recent state-run poll found that 52 percent of Russians oppose the bill. </s> Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a bill on providing stable operation of a Russian national internet system in case of disconnection from the global network infrastructure.

According to the law published on Russia's official legal information portal, Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor is entitled to carry out "the centralised operation of the general communications network" if there are risks to the operation of the Russian internet.

The measures include installing a national system for internet traffic routing through servers within the country and preventing external threats from cutting off the Russian part of the global network, Xinhua reported.

The legislation has aroused controversy as many Russian social network users think it qualifies as one aimed at isolating the Russian internet.

In response, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said previously that Russia has no plans to isolate the internet but must prepare for a possible disconnection from the global network and protect the users' interests. </s> Russians, fearing digital isolation and more censorship on the horizon, gathered in the streets of Moscow and other cities on Sunday to protest a new bill calling for Russia to be cut off from the global Internet.

Media outlets have described the protests in the capital as "some of the biggest" in years.

At the heart of protesters' objections was the sovereign Internet bill, which has been wending its way through the Russian Parliament. The measure would require data between users to be rerouted internally, as opposed to being sent to servers abroad. Lawmakers have argued that the legislation is necessary to protect the country from foreign aggression.

Critics disagree. "The government is battling freedom, including freedom on the internet, I can tell you this as somebody who spent a month in jail for a tweet," activist Sergei Boiko told a crowd in Moscow, according to Agence France-Presse.

Police made about two dozen arrests and seized balloons they determined to be "unmanned flying vehicles," NPR's Lucian Kim reports.

The Libertarian Party called for the protest in central Moscow.

Rallies were also held in St. Petersburg, Voronezh and Khabarovsk, Reuters reported. Protesters chanted "Hands off the Internet" and "No to isolation."

Lawmakers are expected to deliberate on the bill later in March. Eventually, the legislation will need to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.

It "will surely be approved," Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov tells NPR. He expects there will only be minor changes to the measure in parliament. "The main thing – to give the government the option to isolate a particular region or the country in time of a crisis, is to be preserved, for sure."

He adds that two industry giants, Yandex and Mail.ru, support the proposal. "It's the first legislation which has its costs placed on the government, not the companies," he says.

The rallies follow other controversial bills that Russia's parliament recently passed. The legislation allows courts to fine citizens up to $3,000 or jail them for 15 days for showing "disrespect" online to government officials. Authorities could also force websites to remove content deemed as fake news.

The Internet tightening tactics are seen by some as a way to control public discourse, especially as Putin's approval rating has fallen more than 20 percent from 2014 to 2019, according to the Levada Center polling.

Last year, communications oversight agency Roskomnadzor "waged a battle" against messaging app Telegram, Human Rights Watch said. The company refused to comply with an order to provide encryption keys which would enable authorities to read users' messaging data.

When the government tried to ban Telegram, Russians took to the streets. As part of their protest, they threw paper planes, the symbol for Telegram. The company evaded the government's block by domain fronting, concealing the traffic's true source with a domain that isn't restricted. </s> Activists in Russia have kicked off demonstrations against a new bill, which its critics say is part of an effort by President Vladimir Putin's government to increase state control over the Internet and facilitate censorship.

Several dozen people rallied in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk on March 10 to protest against the proposed legislation. Backers of the bill say it is designed to ensure the operation of the Internet in the country if access to servers abroad is cut off.

Activists later gathered on Moscow’s Sakharov Avenue for a sanctioned rally.

Protest actions were also scheduled in the western city of Voronezh and other Russian cities.

The so-called "sovereign Internet" bill, which passed in the first reading in the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament on February 12, faces two more votes in the State Duma before heading to the upper house.

Aleksandr Isavnin of the Roskomsvoboda movement, one of the organizers of the planned, sanctioned rally on Moscow’s Sakharov Avenue, told RFE/RL: “Our state has paid attention to the fact that the Internet is being used to freely exchange information, including by opposition forces, and therefore it wants very much to put it under control.”

The name Roskomsvoboda is short for Russian Freedom Committee and plays off Roskomnadzor, the name of the state communications, Internet, and media oversight agency.

Nikolai Lyaskin, an aide to opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, called the bill yet another step by the authorities to "tighten the screws" on Internet freedom, and urged the Russians to rally against “this madness.”

The bill reflects persistent tension between Russia and the West, where governments have accused Moscow of using cyberattacks and social-media activity to sow discord abroad and increase its global clout.

Proponents say it aims to make what they call the Russian segment of the Internet more independent, and argue that the legislation is needed to guard Russia against potential cyberattacks.

The bill calls for the creation of a system that would protect Russia in the event of cyberwar while also filtering Internet traffic to the country, but there has been debate about how realistic that is and how much it would cost. </s> The law, which will come into effect in November, will allow Russian authorities to isolate the country's internet

MOSCOW, Russia – President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, May 1, signed into law a "sovereign internet" bill which will allow Russian authorities to isolate the country's internet, a move decried by rights groups.

Russian lawmakers insist the new law is necessary to ensure the security of Russia's online networks but critics say the vaguely worded bill gives new censorship powers to government monitors.

The text of the law was published Wednesday but it will not come into effect until November.

The measures include creating technology to monitor internet routing and to steer Russian internet traffic away from foreign servers, ostensibly to prevent a foreign country from shutting it down.

The authors of the initiative say Russia must ensure the security of its networks after US President Donald Trump unveiled a new American cybersecurity strategy last year that said Russia had carried out cyber attacks with impunity.

Thousands of people recently rallied in Russia against this and other bills that critics say aim to restrict information and communication online.

Separately, Putin in March signed controversial laws that allow courts to fine and briefly jail people for showing disrespect towards authorities, and block media for publishing "fake news".

The laws are part of an ongoing Kremlin clampdown on media and internet freedoms that has seen people jailed for sharing humorous memes.

Last week 10 international rights organisations called on Russia to scrap the internet bill.

"The bill created a system that gives the authorities the capacity to block access to parts of the Internet in Russia," said a statement backed by Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and others.

The blocking would be "extrajudicial and non-transparent," the statement said.

Under the new law Russian Internet access providers will also need to ensure that their networks have the technical means for "centralised traffic control" to counter potential threats.

This control will pass notably to the Russian FSB security service and the telecoms and media monitoring agency Roskomnadzor, which is often accused of arbitrarily blocking content on the web.

In recent years Russian authorities have blocked online sites and content linked to the opposition, as well as internet services which fail to cooperate with them, including the Dailymotion video platform, the Linkedin online social networking site and the encrypted messaging app Telegram. – Rappler.com </s> Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a measure expands government control over the internet and which critics say will lead to widespread censorship.

The law, signed Wednesday, requires internet providers to install equipment to route Russian internet traffic through servers in the country. Proponents said it is a defense measure in case the United States or other hostile powers cut off the internet for Russia.

Critics say that would increase the power of state agencies to control information. Users, they add, would find it harder to circumvent government restrictions, and the quality of the connection may suffer. </s> • Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a bill which gives government the go ahead to develop a unique isolated internet only accessible within the country.
• Russia wants to develop a new domain name system (DNS) to protect it from cyber-attacks and make it independent of the world wide web.
• The bill says the government will “exercise centralized control over the communication network of general use.”
• Rights groups fear the plans could see Russia follow China into implementing a highly censored internet which is also used to surveil citizens.

Russia has taken a major step in it’s ambition to cut itself off from the global internet and create closed network only accessible inside the country.

President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on Wednesday which gives government agencies the go-ahead to develop a “sustainable, secure, and fully functioning” Russian “sovereign internet.” The move is part of the Kremlin’s plan to isolate its internet usage as a means of defending against external cyberwarfare.

Few details as to the nature of the proposed new system are mentioned in the bill, but state news outlets report Russia will attempt to develop a unique domain name system (DNS) to shed dependence on the universal world wide web.

It will also see state-owned enterprises protected via encryption, according to media reports, and see Russia’s three internet domains merged into one.

Read more: Russia has banned fake news, while also being one of the world’s prime exporters of fake news

The bill says the government will “exercise centralized control over the communication network of general use.”

On April 8, Putin assured Russians that the internet will always remain free in Russia.

But he caveated: “At the same time, it is also important to counter the risks and challenges of cyber crime and the spread of illegal content, which poses a threat to people’s rights and the state’s interests.”

If successful, the Kremlin says the isolated internet will make Russia more secure in the face of cyber attacks.

Critics warn the law may see Russia emulate China, where the internet is vigorously censored and used to monitor society through a social-credit system.

TheRussia’s move toward a closed internet network comes as major global powers move to defend themselves from external cyber attacks. The US imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Russian firms and individuals in 2017, saying it was responding to Russian attempts to jeopardize the US power grid and financial system.

The EU last year also said it would “strengthen the resilience” of its member states “in the digital domain” after the Netherlands said it caught four Russian intelligence agents trying to hack into the global chemical weapons watchdog headquarters while it was investigating Russia’s alleged involvement in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal last April.

Russia’s Ministry of Communications first hinted at the move to an isolated internet in 2017, when it said it wanted to route 95% of the country’s web traffic internally by 2020, the country’s Izvestia newspaper reported at the time.

The project will initially cost $38 million, Russia’s financial watchdog said, according to the MIT Technology Review, but some involved in the plan expect it to cost more like $300 million.

Read more: Russia’s top Orthodox bishop says the internet is a tool of the Antichrist

In February Russia announced it would be simulating an all-out cyber attack by switching off the whole country’s internet for one day, Russian news agency RosBiznesKonsalting reported.

It was planned for April 1, but it is not known whether the simulation happened.

Over 50% of Russians said they were against the new internet proposals, the state-funded VTsIOM pollster found.

The legislation will roll out on November 1, 2019. </s> Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law on Wednesday that paves the way for Russia to isolate its Internet from the rest of the world.

The so-called “sovereign Internet” law is billed as a means of making the Russian Internet more “independent,” but independence will be in short supply as Putin’s authoritarian government tightens its grip on cyberspace.

Radio Free Europe quoted Putin and his allies defending the law as a means of preventing the United States from cutting off Russia’s access to the global Internet by creating Russian servers that could manage and filter all traffic and requiring foreign Internet providers to use them.

Critics naturally suspect that a great deal of managing and filtering will be conducted by those Russian servers no matter what the U.S. does.

Russia’s Internet regulation agency Roskomnadzor is already eager to use its new powers to go after Telegram, a secure messaging application popular among Russians and others around the world who wish to communicate without the threat of government surveillance. Telegram was developed in Russia but has been effectively banned there since 2018, a prohibition many Russians evidently ignore.

“Activists fear an independent Russian internet would involve the creation of a Chinese-style national firewall to monitor and censor content passing in and out of the country,” CNN observed.

ZDNet reported the law has very little support from the Russian people – about 23 percent in the latest poll – but Putin’s government hotly desired it, as it is tired of chasing Internet providers and website administrators around to make them comply with censorship demands. Once the new system is fully up and running at the beginning of 2021, Roskomnadzor will be able to block content instantly and inescapably with the domain servers under its control instead of publishing blacklists and prodding ISPs to obey them.

Skeptics of Moscow’s claims that it merely wants to secure the Russian Internet against foreign blockades note that no country has ever been completely shut off from the global network, and the estimated $320 million price tag for setting up Russia’s “sovereign Internet” servers is a high price for an economically depressed country to pay for protection against an entirely hypothetical threat.

Forbes pointed out that Russia actually tested a total-disconnect scenario in 2014 and found everything went back online in less than 30 minutes, according to Russian media reports. This will add fuel to suspicions the true purpose of the sovereign Internet law is to reduce the already dismal Internet freedom of Russians even further.

“There is a lot of protests against the law. Activists, some politicians and internet users openly expressed their outrage. But main local telecoms supported the law because the Kremlin promised not to charge them for the black boxes,” the editor of an independent Russian news site told Defense One.

Another Defense One correspondent suggested Russia is gearing up for information warfare in the next decade and taking steps to shield itself from the sort of chaos it plans to unleash upon free societies:

“Ultimately, this boils down to the fact that the Russian government, its military, and its security services regard the population’s unrestricted Internet, social media, and mobile access as a significant vulnerability in what they see as future Western efforts to launch information and cyber ops against the state in order to disorient, confuse and otherwise divide the population and the government,” said Samuel Bendett, research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses’ International Affairs Group. “Therefore, monitoring user content and recording user information is seen as pivotal in such a defensive effort.” “The Russian government saw what such free information access can do in other countries, and defensive [information operations] is now part of the defense strategy,” Bendett said. “Therefore, access to user data is seen as key in preventing what Moscow sees as Western efforts to ferment some kind of ‘color revolution’ in the country.”

This explanation for Putin’s movies is particularly compelling when considering the economic damage Russia is likely to suffer from having a slower, more restricted Internet while the rest of the world achieves ever-greater speeds.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs the Internet Sovereignty Bill [ru] into law. The bill has drawn fierce criticism from civil society groups over fears that it would lead Russia to establish an isolated internet landscape.