Russia Not To Curb Internet, Despite Cyber Attacks: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out any move to restrict Internet access for Russians despite the surge in cyber attacks. The president's comments allayed concerns that Putin might try to disconnect Russia from the global web in an emergency.

The Russian President was speaking at the Security Council meeting comprising senior officials of the state, defence and security teams. Putin explained media freedom; the right of people to receive and disseminate information are basic principles in any democratic state and society. It will be strictly adhered to, reported Reuters.

More Security

However, Wall Street Journal reported that President Putin's general remarks also bore a sense of urgency for more steps to ensure Internet security in Russia to safeguard the communication networks and protect the sovereignty of the state and defeat attempts to leak out confidential data. Putin also said some countries are trying to use their dominance in the global IT-space to achieve not only economic goals, but political as well military goals also.

Putin's distaste for the Internet and social media stems from the protests he faced in the winter of 2011-2012 when activists from various social networks spearheaded an anti-Putin campaign. Many of his vocal critics are also bloggers. Kremlin has already stepped up its scrutiny of the Internet activities in the past one year, by enforcing several laws that human rights activists call as authoritarian. One such law mandates foreign companies to keep Russian users' data on servers inside the country, while another law restricts blogging.

Last April, Mr. Putin's called the Internet as a project of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and is still developing as such. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) fears that Putin's latest comments on cyber security in Russia may be a prelude for Kremlin's desire to increase scrutiny and silence its critics.

Cyber Attacks Up

But the Russian security services claim that they have experienced a sharp rise in cyber attacks, in the last six months, after the crisis in Ukraine worsened and ties with the West deteriorated. Russia claimed that the Kremlin website was knocked out by a cyber hacker last March when tensions increased with the West over Ukraine. The foreign ministry and central bank also suffered similar problems.

According to Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary-general of the Security Council, there had been more than 57 million cyber attacks on Russian sites this year. He blamed foreign intelligence services, criminals and radical groups whom he referred to as terrorists as being responsible for it.