Zero Genie

Russia’s new law providing for a so-called ‘sovereign internet’ came into force November 1, but questions remain over the purpose and practicality of the plan.

Russia says that the legislation, which would permit the state to cut the country off from the internet, is needed for security reasons. It has been presented as a means of guaranteeing that the Russian section of the internet could continue to function should the West try to cut off Russian IP addresses.

Supporters of the bill, which was approved by Russian lawmakers in April, cited the White House’s criticism of Russia in its National Cyber Strategy, published in September 2018. That document accused Russia, along with Iran and North Korea, of carrying out “reckless cyber attacks that harmed American and international businesses”, and warned that, “The Administration is already taking action to aggressively address these threats.”

Russia has chosen to interpret that as meaning that the Russian internet is at risk. In February 2019, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, reinforced that idea by suggesting that, “a huge number of cyber attacks are constantly carried out from U.S. territory against various Russian organizations.” The targets included the Russian presidential website, Peskov said, in remarks reported by TASS.

Not everyone is buying the national security narrative. As the new laws went through the legislative process earlier this year, thousands of Russians took to the streets to protest what they saw as attempts to censor the internet.

The legislation’s coming into force has provoked new criticism. Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, has accused the Russian government of creating conditions in which it “can directly censor content or even turn Russia’s internet into a closed system without telling the public what they are doing or why.”

It won’t convince their critics, but, apparently mindful of the way this looks, senior Russian officials have been at pains to stress that the new laws are not about increasing their ability to censor.

The Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, specifically said earlier this year, “We won’t have Chinese-style regulations,” insisting, “No firewall will emerge here.”

The law does however oblige internet service providers to install “deep packet inspection” technology that permits the filtering of data. Why would the state want that? It depends who you ask. The Kremlin’s supporters would point to the need to be able to keep out viruses or deliberate cyber attacks. The Kremlin’s opponents would point to the censorship possibilities that come as part of the package.

But can it work? In an interview this week with the Financial Times, Putin’s internet advisor, Dmitry Peskov (who happens to share a name with the Kremlin spokesman) compared keeping up with technological change to “running after a moving train.” Peskov also referred to the state’s unsuccessful attempts last year to ban the messaging app, Telegram.

The Financial Times further reported that the necessary equipment allowing Russia to run a parallel system would “not be ready until at least 2021.”

It is also worth remembering that every accusation against Russia of cyber interference in other countries is a reminder that the country has some pretty good hackers. Not all of them are necessarily supporters of the Kremlin.

So even assuming this new system can be made to work, and the decision is taken one day to cut Russia off from the internet–for whatever reason–there is no guarantee that isolation can be complete.