Justin Sherman writes for Atlantic Council: The Russian government has long exerted control over the internet in Russia, but it has more aggressively pushed in recent years to technically isolate the internet within Russia from the rest of the world. It remains to be seen how successful the government will be in achieving this objective—due to a combination of political and especially technical factors—but the pursuit of a domestic internet may shift the layout of internet infrastructure in Russia and the state’s control over it. This issue brief examines recent “RuNet” developments and explores how they could elevate national security risks for the United States and Europe by changing the internet landscape in Russia and potentially shifting Russian cyber behavior. In the process, it also analyzes the relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin, and Russian cyber strategy; the Russian government’s notion of “information security”; and how the Russian model of internet control differs from the oft-cited Chinese model.
read the analysis: Reassessing RuNet: Russian internet isolation and implications for Russian cyber behavior – Atlantic Council
