Runet becomes independent

A law ensuring security and availability of Russian Internet (Runet) in case of its isolation from the global network was put in force today.

It was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2019.

The initiative envisages creation of infrastructure that would assure security and operability of Russian Internet resources in case of inaccessibility of national providers’ connection to foreign root servers.

According to the final version of the law, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media will be responsible for "the coordination of ensuring the stable, secure and seamless function of the Internet in Russia." It is provided that in case threats to stable Internet operation in Russia arise the service "can exercise centralized control over the communication network of general use." Moreover, the government can determine the types of threats and measures to eliminate them.

The law in particular stipulates development of a national system for receipt of information about domain names or network addresses. It is understood as "the aggregate of interconnected software and hardware intended for storage and receipt of information about network addresses in respect of domain names, including the ones included into the Russian national domain zone, and authorization when permitting domain names."

Requirements to this system, the procedure of its establishment and rules of use will be determined by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media. This agency will also be responsible for registration of persons authorized to form domain names being part of the national domain zone.