In December 2018, a bill was introduced to the State Duma that would isolate the Russian Internet from foreign servers. It is expected that in this way the inhabitants of the country will be maximally protected from data leakage. According to the Deputy of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications Oleg Ivanov, they support the bill and believe that it will be passed without problems at the first reading. However, the official also noted that the project requires careful discussion due to the abundance of controversial issues.
It is planned that the autonomous operation of the Runet will be carried out using some "technical means" to determine the traffic sources. Roskomnadzor will have new powers, and telecom operators will be obliged to comply with its traffic routing requirements and provide the possibility of centralized control. If necessary, it will be possible to block access to sites not only by network addresses, but also by closing the passing traffic.
The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications planned to reach 99% of the turnover of Russian traffic within the country back in 2016. At the same time, the ministry admitted that if foreign servers were turned off, problems could arise in the Runet. In an interview with TASS on December 24, 2018, the head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, announced that any country must be ready for isolation.
According to the estimates of experts from the working group "Communications and IT", it will take about 25 billion rubles to conduct research, create and maintain a register of exchange points, expand the staff of Roskomnadzor structures and train them. Also, telecom operators may have problems with the Network, which will also require compensation. The experts also stressed that it is not clear from the text of the draft law what exactly the threat to the residents of the Russian Federation is.
Ramis Ganiev