Russia is not planning to cut off the country’s segment of the Internet from the global network, the chief of Safe Internet League, Denis Davydov, said on Friday, commenting on media reports.
Earlier on Friday, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that Russia’s Security Council, chaired by President Vladimir Putin, is due to discuss on Monday ways in which Russia could separate itself from the Internet in case of an emergency.
The head of the Russian organization, that fights dangerous Web content, has rejected the plans but said that Moscow is however currently discussing measures that could be taken in case if the country is cut off from the Internet from outside.
“I cannot comment on how major the risk is that we could be cut off, but technically, there is such a possibility,” Davydov said.
The League's CEO explained that currently the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees global IP address allocation, is directly subordinated to the US Department of Commerce.
“There were talks that the corporation had to be taken out from the US control. But in fact, this has not occurred,” he said.
A source in the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media also told ITAR-TASS on Friday that Russia needs to protect the Russian segment of the Internet, known as Runet, in case of emergencies.
“The idea is not to block or limit access to Internet resources, but to devise an action plan in emergency situations,” the ministry source said.
Russia’s coordination center of national Internet domains has announced it was ready to cut off Russia from the Internet, saying that the infrastructure of national domains, built over the past 20 years, will sustain any kinds of attacks.
“In case if Russia is cut off from the global network of domains, we have a highly-reliable option, which may be discussed at the Security Council session,” the center said in a statement on Friday.
In July, the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media together with the Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) officials conducted exercises to test how robust the Russian Internet would be if it were subject to targeted attacks.
Russian officials later announced plans to take steps to improve the protection of the country’s segment of the global Internet network.