Test: Russia disconnects three regions from the global Internet
Russia has tested "replacement infrastructures" for the Russian part of the internet. According to reports, three regions were disconnected from abroad.
(Image: Maxim Gaigul/Shutterstock.com)
Russia tested the disconnection of several regions from the global internet at the weekend. According to Russian-language media, the test was intended to test the functionality of a purely domestic network. This was announced by the Russian censorship authority Roskomnadzor. These are annual tests aimed at putting the replacement infrastructure to the test. According to media reports, the regions affected were Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia.
In the course of the disconnection, which took place on December 6 and 7, users in the affected regions were no longer able to connect to messenger services such as WhatsApp or Telegram, reports the US think tank "Institute for the Study of War", citing various sources. In addition to foreign websites, some domestic websites were also no longer accessible. There was also no way out of the isolation via VPN.
Goal: a great firewall?
There are speculations that the majority Muslim population and political instability were the deciding factors in the choice of regions for testing. A Great Firewall based on the Chinese model (Golden Shield project) could also be a domestic political instrument to combat unrest. Plans for the "state internet" have been pursued for years.
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However,the Russian news agency Interfax, citing government officials, said that the disconnection from the so-called RuNet would serve to "ensure the availability of important foreign and Russian services in the event of deliberate external influence". In other words, to keep the Russian network operational in the event of an external cyber attack, for example.
Allegedly no disruptions
The exercises had already been announced in mid-November –, but without details of where and when they would take place. In this context, Roskomnadzor (RKN) claimed that access to the global internet for Russian users would not be affected. In reality, however, the Russian Internet censorship authority is already extensively blocking foreign websites and justifies this by claiming that Russian legislation is not being observed. As recently as December 7, it was announced that the Amazon cloud platform, the German web host Hetzner and the web hosting providers GoDaddy, DigitalOcean, HostGator, Ionos and Network Solutions would be restricted in Russia.
(mki)
