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UN GA adopts Russia-proposed resolution on developing convention on cyber crime

The draft resolution was submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in mid-December after being approved by the GA Third Committee

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

THE UNITED NATIONS, December 28. /TASS/. The United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) has adopted the resolution proposed by Russia that gives a start to developing an international convention on fighting cyber crimes. Seventy-nine countries voted for the resolution, 60 member states voted against it, and 33 countries abstained.

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Russia ready to combat cybercrimes jointly with US — Kremlin

In particular, the UN GA agreed to establish a special inter-governmental committee of experts representing all regions in order to develop a comprehensive international convetion on fighting against the use of informational and communications technologies for illegal aims.

When working on the convention, efforts made at the national and international levels on fighting against the use of informational and communications technologies for illegal aims, will be taken into account. It is planned to use the results of the work of the inter-governmental group of experts for conducting a comprehensive research on cyber crime.

The draft resolution was submitted to the UN GA in mid-December after being approved by the GA Third Committee. The resolution is aimed at "tackling together this serious evil which inflicts a colossal, trillions-worth damage on the world economy and people in general," Russian presidential envoy for international cooperation on information security Andrey Krutskikh told TASS earlier.

Krutskikh noted that Moscow does not juxtapose its initiative to the already existing Budapest Convention, but instead suggest to "update it as much as possible." For example, the Budapest Convention lists only nine types of cyber crime, while all participants in the discussion admit that now there are more than 30 types of cyber crime, he added. Moreover, the Convention does not include the topic of cyber terrorism, which is very important, he noted.

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