The bills are
designed to ensure Internet’s viability amid potential aggressive steps in
cyber space against Russia, the Kremlin spokesman said.
MOSCOW, March 11.
/TASS/. Participants of Sunday’s rally for Internet freedom in Moscow are
mistaken when saying that the country’s authorities seek restrictions against
the global network in Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on
Monday.
"Everyone is
calling for Internet freedom <…>, that’s why as far as Internet freedom
is concerned, the position of this event’s participants can be backed. But we
cannot support their misunderstanding and deception that the passed bills are
somehow aimed at limiting Internet freedom. On the contrary, they are designed
to ensure Internet’s viability amid potential aggressive steps in cyber space
against our country," Peskov stressed.
The Kremlin spokesman
said he saw one of the rally participants saying on TV that Russia’s authorities
are allegedly "seeking to press the button and cut the country off from
the Internet." "This is absolutely a deception. However, this
participant somehow is not afraid that someone overseas will press this button
and disconnect him from the Internet, but this is a real reason for
fears," he noted. The steps of legislators and authorities "are aimed
at securing our citizens from such shutdowns in case of this situation,"
Peskov said.
Earlier, the Russian
Interior Ministry’s press service said the rally for free Internet drew nearly
6,500 people on downtown Moscow’s Academician Sakharov Avenue on Sunday.
On February 12,
Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed in the first reading
a bill on a stable work of the Russian Internet, known as Runet. The authors of
this initiative suggested cutting the volume of data, exchanged by Russian
users, and which is sent abroad. The operators may be required to install
technical tools on communications networks, which would identify the source of
this transmitted traffic.
Source: ITAR-TASS
11-03-2019
