Social media is discussing Russia with a document that has been circulating on Twitter for the last two days and which is claimed to be an official document. This document, signed by Andrei Chernenko, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communication and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, included statements that were interpreted as Russia’s abandonment of the global internet.
Documents first shown by Belarus-based media outlet Nexta, “Russia has begun active preparations to cut the global internet connection.” shared under the title. It was stated in the news that Russian websites and all online platforms were requested to transfer all servers and domain names to the Russian region by March 11 at the latest.
All websites will switch to ‘.ru’ extension
In the articles in the document, websites and services using foreign hosting platforms should switch to Russian services from foreign sources and Requested the complete removal of any downloaded JavaScript code from the sites. The most striking point was that all websites were asked to switch to domains with the ‘.ru’ extension until March 11 at the latest.
Statement from Russia: No plans to disconnect from the global internet
The main justification for the requests in this document was given directly by the relevant Russian ministry after the document was shared as ‘Russia bids farewell to the global internet’. In a statement to the Russian news agency Interfax, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communication and Mass Media stated that Russia has no plans to disconnect from the global internet, and that the purpose of this letter is to protect Russian websites from foreign cyber attacks.
While Russia’s protection from cyber attacks is quite understandable as it is the most targeted country today, there have been some developments in the past showing that Russia will disconnect from the global internet. Russia has managed to run its national internet infrastructure, RuNet, without being connected to global DNS, and has carried out similar tests in the past months.
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