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Anti-Russian sanctions

Sanctions in IT sphere inadmissible — Russian Communications Ministry

Sanctions, particularly those imposed on Internet users, should be considered as a limitation of the universal human right to obtain and distribute information and ideas, a ministry official says

© EPA/RALF HIRSCHBERGER

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MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Russia opposes the use of sanctions in the field of information and communication technologies and the Internet, including domain names, a senior official of the Russian Communications Ministry said on Wednesday.

Yulia Yelanskaya, deputy head of the ministry’s international cooperation department, said at a meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Singapore that the decision of the American registrar that invalidated Internet domains in the Republic of Crimea, due to trade restrictions that prevent US companies from doing business with individuals and legal entities in Crimea are inadmissible.

"Sanctions, particularly those imposed on Internet users, should be considered as a limitation of the universal human right to obtain and distribute information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers, as stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," the Communication Ministry’s press service quotes the official.

The Russian Federation, Yelanskaya said at the forum, calls on "all interested parties in all countries to refrain from any attempts to use the Internet blocking practices, including the blocking of domain names, for the sake of politically motivated objectives."

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Sanctions vs. Russia Internet & Telecom

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