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Council of Europe urges closer Internet governance cooperation with Russia

Head of the Council of Europe’s Information Office in Russia Petr Zikh said all countries “should bear common responsibility for Internet governance”

MOSCOW, April 07. /ITAR-TASS/. The Council of Europe wants to actively cooperate with Russia in the Internet sphere, the head of the Council of Europe’s Information Office in Russia, Petr Zikh told the Fifth Russian Internet Governance Forum in Moscow on Monday.

“We are trying to establish cooperation with the Russian Federation in the sphere of Internet regulation. We are launching a project to develop free Internet, and we invite our Russian partners to participate in it,” he said, adding that he hoped for Russia’s accession to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime that seeks to harmonize national laws on cybercrime, improve national capabilities for investigating such crimes, and increase cooperation on investigations.

Zikh noted that all countries and not a group of people “should bear common responsibility for Internet governance”.

“The issues of Internet regulation is a top priority for the Council of Europe,” he said. “We consider it necessary to move forward to minimize restrictions and to fight cybercrime.”

Zikh said some major challenges the international community had to face today included the use of the digital currency called bitcoin that allows users to conduct transactions online, the spread of terrorist materials through the Internet and identity theft.