MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. American tech giant Microsoft’s initiative to create a multiregional hub in Kazakhstan is being implemented in the interests of the US, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS.
"We have no doubt that the initiative to create a trans-regional hub focusing on post-Soviet nations is being implemented primarily in the interests of Washington. The goal is to get these countries hooked on the IT industry, replete with tabs to simplify the American special services’ intelligence operations," he said.
Silicon Valley giants have been caught doing this on more than one occasion, Galuzin noted. "As experience shows, Westerners’ promises often turn into political and other servitude, including in the digital area. There are quite a few examples of American and European IT giants using their technological capabilities to the detriment of the national interests of certain states," he added.
"Each country should obviously decide how dangerous this project is for its digital sovereignty itself. For our part, we warn and will be warning our CIS friends of the negative consequences of cooperating with such companies," Russia’s Deputy Minister stressed.
As part of joint integration tasks, in the EAEU among others, Russia is itself working to overcome technological and digital dependence on unscrupulous and unreliable 'partners' that abuse their previously acquired monopoly position, Galuzin pointed out. "Our bilateral cooperation with post-Soviet countries is established on equal footing. For example, we signed intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in the area of providing international information security with Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2022," he said.
It was reported in April that Microsoft would open a multiregional hub in Kazakhstan. It was noted that the hub’s operations would cover Central Asian countries Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Mongolia and Pakistan. Russia’s foreign ministry said earlier that Microsoft was carrying out an order from the US’ special services and the Pentagon to fully take all of Ukraine’s information infrastructure under control and deprive it of its digital sovereignty.