Russia to test internet disconnection

Russia is going to conduct a test in which the country disconnects from the rest of the internet. The test is related to a bill that requires internet in the country to function independently of that of abroad.

It is not known when the test should take place. The major internet companies such as Mail.ru and Yandex.ru in Russia have joined in, ZDNet reports based on news from Russia’s RosBiznesKonsalting.

All internet providers, including the major providers MegaFon, Beeline, MTS and RosTelecom, are also participating in the test. The disconnection should provide them with information about how their networks fare if the connections with foreign countries are broken and what the costs are involved. The internet providers would fear major disruptions and still have many questions about the implementation. They have to route traffic through systems of the Russian telecom authority Roskomnadzor, which can control the content and route of the data traffic.

The decision to proceed with the test was made at a meeting of an information security working group led by Natalya Kaspersky, co-founder of Kaspersky Lab and CEO of security company InfoWatch.

Plans for an autonomous Russian internet have been around for some time, but in December 2018 Russian senators introduced a bill that should make this possible. The proposal stems from fears that foreign powers could cut Russia off from the rest of the internet. The ability to fall back on an autonomous ‘Runet’ should prevent this from leading to chaos.

Roskomnadzor and the Ministry of Communications, among others, support the bill and President Putin is also said to be in favour. However, the Russian court gives a negative advice, because the implementation leads to costs that are not included in the government budget. The cost of an autonomous Runet is estimated at 20 billion rubles, or 270 million euros.