Putin is preparing to pull the plug on the global network. Russia would be ready for its disconnection from the Internet, bringing its infrastructure on the "Russian intranet", ie RunNet, completing the global communications lockdown in place since day one of the Ukrainian invasion. The news was relaunched on social media from Nexta tv and also from a profile related to Anonymous hackers, which has come out against Putin. In particular, the accounts published two pages of documents in Russian from which emerges the Kremlin's will to disconnect the country from the global network and to transfer all servers and domains to a national network. The operation should take place by 11 March, according to what we read in the message sent "to all federal executive authorities and to the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation" by the deputy minister of digital development, communication and mass media Chernenko.
“Russia is preparing to disconnect from the global internet, limiting access to information for the Russian people. This means censorship, and we are totally against any kind of censorship. So… let's increase the pressure!” reads the Anonymous tweet.
Although Moscow denies the report, the plan for an independent internet controlled by the Russian government began in May 2019 when the Russian president signed a bill that aimed to legitimize Russia's "sovereignty over the Internet". The deputies had highlighted the need to respond to the "aggressive" IT strategy of the Americans.
In reality, a few days ago it was Ukraine that requested ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers which manages the Internet globally - to disconnect Russia from the Internet by turning off the DNS servers and revoking Russian domains. In short, the response from the institution was a resounding "no" because it would have been a serious precedent for the Internet and the concept of a universal communication network.
If the plan is carried out, 140 million people will leave the Internet to find themselves within an information field conveyed by the Russian government.
Moscow denies the disconnection from the global network
In a report by Russian newspaper Kommersant, the digital development ministry denied the government's move to block Russian access to the internet. “Russia is bracing against cyberattack threats and has asked all state-run websites to switch to locally managed domain name systems before March 11th. They were also ordered to delete all Java script code downloaded from foreign sources, which are mostly advertising services, and to complicate password policies.
Government communication leaked by Western intelligence services
The message was sent by Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Chernenko. The news was released by Western intelligence services which attached the translation of the note sent to all entities. THE points to respect there are eight:
1. Check that the personal accounts of the administrators of the domains of the public sites on the Internet are logged in. In case of no access, perform the required actions on restore access
2. Updating and (or) making more complex the password policy, changing personal account password of domain registrar, password of administrators of public resources and, if possible, introducing additional authentication factors for users.
3. Switch to using DNS servers located on the territory of the Russian Federation.
4. Delete from HTML pages all Javascript codes downloaded from foreign resources.
5. In case of using foreign hosting, move the public resources placed on it to a Russian hosting.
6. In case of posting a public resource in the domain zone other than the Russian domain zone if possible move it to the “ru” domain zone. 7. Communicate the list of measures to strengthen public resources to all dependent entities.
8. Notify by official letter addressed to the Ministry of Digital Development of Russia the implementation of the measures by March 15th. In case of refusals that lead to the unavailability of public resources, report to the Ministry of Digital Development.
Moscow passes the law that punishes fake news about the work of the Russian army
From March 5, the rules that punish the spread of fake news on Russian military actions. Any infractions are sanctioned with very heavy fines (up to one and a half million rubles) and, in the most serious cases, there are also prison sentences of up to fifteen years. Also introduced accountability for public calls for sanctions against Russia. The new rules apply to everyone, including Russian and foreign journalists. This is why many local broadcasters have suspended their activity, just as foreign broadcasters have decided to suspend the services of correspondents and correspondents from Russia. Another setback to the freedom and independence of information by the Kremlin.
