Putin orders the breaking of technological dependence on foreign countries

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called for a turn away from foreign technologies to bolster Russia’s defenses against computer attacks, while ensuring that Moscow halted a dangerous “cyber attack”.

“The digitization that is actively taking place in the Russian government and economy […] It should be as protected as possible from any possible negative action from the outside.”

“The obvious way to achieve this goal is to ensure the transition to national equipment, technologies, programs and products,” he said during a meeting of the Russian Security Council.

Putin said that Russia, which since February 24 has been participating in a military campaign in Ukraine, is facing an increasing number of computer attacks. According to him, the latter come from “different states” and “strictly coordinated”.

Putin indicated that they are targeting in particular the websites of Russian media, financial institutions, public services and official portals.

He claimed that more often than not, websites are blocked during these attacks or “false news” is spread on them, also referring to “more and more frequent” attempts to break into the “internal networks of Russian companies.”

According to Mr. Putin, Moscow, within the framework of Western sanctions, is also from now on “restrictions on access to foreign computer technologies”. He pointed out that “a chain of Western suppliers have suspended their technical support.”

And the Russian leader continued: “But, so far, I can say that the cyberattack and sanctions against Russia have failed, and in general we were ready for it.”

For several years, the Russian authorities have been developing a “sovereign Internet” system that will eventually make it possible to isolate the Russian Internet by disconnecting it from the main global servers.

The Kremlin denies wanting to build a national network under control, as in China, but that’s what NGOs and dissidents fear.