MOSCOW, March 26, /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian authorities will respond to the threat of Western countries to increase interception of information in Russia by means of software and hardware, Nikolai Nikiforov, the communications minister, told reporters on Wednesday.
“We do not consider any sanctions,” Nikiforov said. “But when we are told that some countries are soon to start large scale information intelligence on the Russian territory, Russian customers, above all customers of state companies, are being alerted about selection of partners as regards information technologies - software and hardware,” Nikiforov said.
He said technologies and products of South Korean and Chinese companies could be of interest in this connection. “The decision rests with a specific customer. I would not want Russia to resort to sanctions in the matter, even though, as we see now, in the foreign politics Russia is compelled to symmetric and asymmetric response to such matters,” Nikiforov said.
“Many state customers in Russia are seriously concerned with what we read in the Wall Street journal that US services plan to increase the volume of information intercepted in Russia. So I believe customers, particularly in the essential strategic information systems, will be very careful with choosing partners,” Nikiforov said.
He has said there is a large number of IT novelties, including in the spheres of hardware, database control systems, as well as soft- and hardware meant for the efficient work of state information systems. “Russian engineers and scientists have a certain niche of work in which they are quite competitive,” Nikiforov said.