BAKU, April 12. /TASS/. The law on ensuring the stable operation of the Russian Internet segment (Runet) does not constitute a threat of Russian isolation, Chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko told reporters on Friday.
"We need to further clarify the main stipulations of this law, explain to our citizens, society and all those concerned, including the mass media, that this law will not lead to Russia's isolation," she said.
She underlined that concerns should be raised about the possibility of Russia being cut off from digital technologies and the Internet rather than the law. "Russia by no means wants to shut off or isolate itself from the rest of the world. This is pointless and impossible," the politician said adding that Russia can’t rule out external cybersecurity threats.
"It would be irresponsible on part of the authorities to not take measures in advance, to leave the country unprotected. We shouldn’t forget that the Internet is also state websites, finances, data bases, management system. <…> If all of that was shut down, the nation's economy, finances and simple citizens would suffer great losses," Matviyenko pointed out.
The speaker believes that a country is not sovereign if it cannot ensure cybersecurity. "We must simply protect Russia from these new challenges," she stressed.
Stable Runet law
At a plenary meeting on Thursday,the State Duma adopted the law on ensuring the stable operation of the Russian Internet segment (Runet) in case the country is disconnected from the global Internet infrastructure in its first and main reading. The bill was devised and presented by Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrey Klishas, his First Deputy Lyudmila Bokova and MP Andrei Lugovoy.
According to the law, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media will be responsible for "the coordination of ensuring the stable, secure and seamless function of the Internet in Russia." It is provided that in case threats to stable Internet operation in Russia arise the service "can exercise centralized control over the communication network of general use." Moreover, the government can determine the types of threats and measures to eliminate them.
If the bill passes all stages of approval, the law will take effect in November 2019, excluding the provisions on cryptographic protection of data and national domain name system, which will come into force on January 1, 2021.