Digital darkness Are the authorities going to disconnect Russia from the global Internet?

In early March, the Telegram channel ZaTelecom published several government documents, which seemingly hinted that the Russian authorities were preparing to disconnect the country from the “external” Internet. The authenticity of these memos has yet to be confirmed. At this writing, Russia remains connected to the global Internet — but could the authorities really pull the plug? For answers to this and other key questions, Meduza turned to lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, the co-founder of the digital rights group Roskomsvoboda.

Is Russia really going to turn off the ‘external’ Internet?

If we don’t fall prey to some cyber-paranoia and jump to the conclusion that all international data transfer points are going to be shut down, we can interpret these letters as nothing more than instructions for state agencies. These are needed in case domain registrars, hosting companies, and other providers suddenly disable services associated with the state and state-owned companies due to international sanctions.

The recommendations laid out in these messages will actually help protect the state’s online platforms in the event of cyberattacks. As we know, the hacking group Anonymous has been launching many attacks on government infrastructure, websites, and banks. Changing passwords and using two-factor authentication will help us avoid serious consequences. This is how I would prefer to interpret these messages, although there could be completely different implications here.

Is pulling the plug even possible?

The short answer is that we can’t be cut off from the global Internet overnight. Technically, it’s possible to disconnect all transmission points and that would be the end of it — no more global Internet in Russia. However, due to the economic factors, it’s difficult to imagine that the shutdown will be instantaneous. The entire Russian economy is tied to the global Internet, disconnecting from it would a much heavier blow than the sanctions, which are having a significant effect on the economy already.

How does Russia’s ‘sovereign’ Internet work?

The idea of an intra-Russian or “sovereign” Internet implies the creation of a copy of the global Internet inside of Russia, with a national system of domain names, a national registry of web addresses, and national Russian services located on the domains “.ru” and “.rf”.

It would be possible to access any resource using the “sovereign” Internet. Once it is introduced, the database of domain names responsible for the connectivity of IP addresses will be copied. So, as long as Roskomnadzor hasn’t included a particular site in the registry, it will still function. But if a website is blocked, the providers will restrict direct access — and when that happens, VPNs will be of no help. In this case, the entire infrastructure will be very easy to control and Russia will be plunged into digital darkness.

After its last disastrous attempt to block Telegram, Roskomnadzor has been learning from its mistakes. It has a lot more digital resources at its disposal that make it a lot more capable of limiting access to various resources. But it will probably never be 100 percent effective. Based on what we have seen in Kazakhstan, users may still have the ability to send each other proxies through SMS-gateways.

Telegram may be resilient, but if Roskomnadzor begins targeted blocking, pings will take a long time to travel, everything will start working poorly, and many users will experience connectivity problems.

How can Russian Internet users stay connected?

The only thing you can do right now is download as many tools as possible to help you stay online while there is at least one open channel of communication with the outside world. For example, you can use applications such as Psiphon or the Tor browser. If we end up getting cut off from all communication with the outside world, we will either have to resort to using carrier pigeons, or look for some other means of communication that’s not connected to the global Internet.

There is definitely a possibility of this happening. I would say that right now, there is about a 50 percent chance of a “sovereign” internet being instituted, and if the situation deteriorates further, we are in for a “great shutdown” and being disconnected from the global network. It’s unclear what will happen first: a shut down from the outside or one from within. We are in an unenviable position right now and a lot depends on how the situation [in Ukraine] unfolds.