Russian authorities have carried out new measures to limit digital communications and management the home data setting. On 4 July 2024, a number of Digital Personal Community (VPN) purposes have been faraway from the Russian model of the App Retailer on the request of Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications regulator, the British Protection Ministry reported in its intelligence report on 6 July.
On the identical day, Russian media reported that the Federal Safety Service (FSB) demanded Russian telecom operators stop offering Voice over Web Protocol (VoIP) Telephony providers. The FSB cited fraud prevention because the official purpose for this measure.
These measures are a part of Russia’s broader technique to limit entry to unbiased and international media whereas enhancing authorities surveillance. This effort has escalated since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, resulting in the shutdown or relocation of unbiased media and stricter controls on international media entry.
The Ministry wrote:
- In response to Russian unbiased media on 4 July 2024, on the request of the Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor, a number of Digital Personal Community (VPN) purposes have been faraway from the Russian model of the App Retailer. This follows earlier removals of VPN apps in 2022 and 2023. Roskomnadzor gained the facility to dam entry to VPN providers regardless of a courtroom in March 2024. Roskomnadzor justified the ban because of the apps containing ‘content material unlawful in Russia’. That is nearly actually meant to limit the power of Russian residents to entry unbiased Russian, and worldwide media, in addition to to simplify the power of the safety providers to watch Russian residents.
- Individually, additionally on 4 July, Russian media reported that the Russian Federal Safety Service (FSB), has demanded that Russian telecom operators cease offering Voice over Web Protocol (VoIP) Telephony providers. VoIP is more and more the worldwide trade normal resulting from its broadband effectivity and the power to combine telephony right into a unified communications system along with electronic mail and video teleconferencing. The implausible official FSB justification is that the measure is supposed to cut back situations of fraud. In actuality, it’s extremely probably it’s meant to extend the power of the Russian authorities to watch and prohibit the communications of personal residents and company entities.
- These two measures are each in step with Russian efforts to manage its home data setting and restrict residents’ entry to data that doesn’t align with authorities narratives. This effort is longstanding. In 2019, Russia held workouts to briefly reduce off Russian entry to the web and handed ‘Sovereign Web’ laws in Ukraine. Nevertheless, this effort has considerably accelerated after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with most unbiased media being shuttered or compelled overseas, and more and more draconian restrictions on residents’ talents to entry international media. The impact of those restrictions is but to be seen, as educated city Russians proceed to search out creative methods to get round these measures.
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