Telegram has blocked and shut down hundreds of public calls for violence on channels connected to the recent events in the United States, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said […]
» Read more
… Navalny has announced … he will return to Russia … following months of recuperation after being poisoned by a Novichok-type nerve agent …. Compelling evidence indicates he was poisoned by … FSB[] operatives …. The Kremlin has said it was not involved … but has refused to cooperate […]
» Read more
The Russian-language … Google posted its end-of-year video summarizing … top searches and main events in 2020. Spoiler alert: it’s as depressing as you think […]
» Read more
New research shows the growth of mobile internet leads to falling trust in governments, with Navalny as the prime example. (Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – Dec. 4, 2020) The rapid spread of mobile internet around the world over the last decade has directly contributed to falling levels of trust in government and a surge in populism, according […]
» Read more
While the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration is bound to grow, a machine cannot yet be the leader of a state, … Putin […]
» Read more
… According to the survey, … 48 percent of Russians rely on state television for their news and information while 44 percent rely on the Internet […]
» Read more
“The group started out as an online discussion of hobbies, schoolwork and sometimes politics. But then it was infiltrated by an informer for Russia’s all-powerful security services.” “… [T]he chat group … was joined by a new member who promoted unusually strident views … and pushed to turn the online chatter into a political movement …. [He] gave his name […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Aug. 7, 2020) Russians are receiving spam text messages offering huge rewards in exchange for information about their country’s efforts to interfere in the United States’ presidential election. News of the SMS messages came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the $10 million reward in an attempt to prevent foreign interference in the […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Aug 6 (Interfax) – Over half of Russians (58%) use their home PCs at least several times a week, as against 43% in 2010, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) said in a statement seen by Interfax on Thursday. The survey indicates that number of Russians who have several PCs, including laptops, at home, has grown over eight […]
» Read more
“… Researchers and investigators have revealed … activities of [Kremlin-connected] Russian actors … during the 2016 election. … [yet with] comparatively little information about the real impact[,] … still less about … precise objectives. … Russian officials say and write a great deal about the United States …. What emerges is not a cunning, systematic scheme to corrode American democracy […]
» Read more
U.S. officials have identified three English-language websites that they say Russia is using to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic to exploit the U.S. struggle to contain the outbreak […]
» Read more
YouTube has blocked accounts of the Tsargrad TV channel in Russia and its former chief editor, pro-Kremlin analyst Aleksandr Dugin. … Google, which owns YouTube, said … that the accounts were blocked due to the violation of laws on sanctions and trade regulations […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Evan Gershkovich – Khabarovsk, July 27, 2020) As they have for nearly three weeks, the first protesters started to gather at Lenin Square in the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East at 7 pm on a recent weekday evening. They were soon joined by independent Russian journalists and a small army of YouTube bloggers, […]
» Read more
“Russia is masking its involvement by outsourcing its disinformation operations to West Africa.” “… The Kremlin’s previous attempts to hijack movements such as Occupy Wall Street and the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access pipeline indicate that the Kremlin can skillfully reframe social protests to increase mistrust between U.S. citizens and their government. If African Americans continue to be […]
» Read more
“… Putin has signed a ‘July Decree’ … outlin[ing] … national development goals up to 2030 …. risk[ing] … [failure to] fulfill[] … [his] previous economic platform due to the … COVID-19[] crisis. … [with] deadlines for [the] National Projects spending spree … being pushed from 2024 to 2030. [The new platform] outline[s] five development goals: 1) maintaining the population, […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) – Telegram founder Pavel Durov has welcomed the decision of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) to unblock access to the messenger service in Russia and has reaffirmed privacy of correspondence as the messenger’s fundamental principle. “What’s the practical result of the unblocking? The stability and speed of operation […]
» Read more
“The report underscores the ambition, sweep and scale of Russian disinformation operations” “Russian operatives used online forgeries, fake blog posts and more than 300 social media platforms to undermine opponents and spin disinformation about perceived enemies throughout the world, including in the United States, according to a new report …. The list of figures that operatives targeted over six years […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 30, 2020) The “No!” campaign organized on YouTube a virtual protest action against the amendments to the constitution and the failure of the Kremlin to act to help the population during the pandemic. It attracted only 4800 participants but far more likes and visits, observers said. This virtual protest (youtube.com/watch?v=gYDkz-tjn7E), which […]
» Read more
“… looming economic fallout in Russia could wipe out as much as 10% of gross domestic product … yet … could also deliver … transformative shifts. Educational technology is one of the areas destined to grow worldwide. Russia is not an exception … expansion of online learning might also help modify the country’s archaic education system. [Covid-19 s]tay-at-home policies … […]
» Read more
“As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, Russia appears to be observing the adage that you should never let a good crisis go to waste. Seeking to capitalize on the chaos and promote its own soft power, the Kremlin has taken Beijing’s lead and started love-bombing struggling nations with medical aid, and stepping up its efforts to broadcast propaganda and sow disinformation […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, April 7, 2020) As Russians are told to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, ever more of the 82 percent who are connected to the Internet are turning to that channel for news, with the share doing so rising from 83 percent to 89 percent over the last […]
» Read more
A decade of health disinformation promoted by President Vladimir Putin of Russia has sown wide confusion, hurt major institutions and encouraged the spread of deadly illnesses. “… the pandemic has swept the globe … accompanied by a dangerous surge of false information – an ‘infodemic,’ according to the [WHO] …. Analysts say … Putin … has played a principal role […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Adrien Henni – April 9, 2020) Russian retail players have been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, with the country on a month-long partial shutdown and major cities under strict quarantine, shopping habits have been transformed in a matter of days, forcing both online and offline sellers to react quickly. Even before the shutdown of many […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 18, 2020) If you have time on your hands and a deep love of Western art and Russian architectural extravagence, take a look at this. Five hours, one continuous shot, 45 halls and 588 works of art in the Hermitage Museum, all filmed on an iPhone without recharging. themoscowtimes.com/2020/03/18/take-a-hermitage-tour-a69670 [Additional information russianlife.com/stories/the-russia-file/5-hour-phone-film/: Apple recently […]
» Read more
“Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has been well documented, and evidence shows Russia is again trying to undermine the 2020 election. But what is the federal government doing to stop it? Richard Hasen, founder of the Election Law Blog and author of “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy,” joins Hari Sreenivasan to […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jake Cordell – February 21, 2020) “If you ask me, I would say ‘kill borders’ – they don’t need to exist at all,” says Alexander Galitsky, pushing his closed notebook to the side as he warms to his topic. “All these borders and all these rules exist only for politicians. We don’t have borders with […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – November 1, 2019) When the chairman of Russia’s Committee on Informational Policy, Leonid Levin, stepped on stage in Moscow’s Lomonosov building on Oct. 28 to give a speech during the second All-Russian Digital Forum he couldn’t have chosen a better place. The venue is not just the home of Russia’s fastest supercomputer, it’s also overshadowed […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) – Courts have found 34 Russians guilty of administrative violations for insulting state symbols, Russian Prosecutor General’s Office spokesman Alexander Kurennoi said. “The police made 56 protocols of administrative violations over a period of nine months. Courts found 34 people guilty, 13 cases were closed, nine cases are pending trial,” Kurennoi said on the video channel […]
» Read more
“Six months ago, Russia adopted a law making it an administrative offense to insult the government on the internet. … and in a majority of the cases where a court imposed a fine[] Russians have been punished for insulting … Putin. Instead of sheltering Putin and other top officials from harsh and vulgar criticism, however, the use of the Russian […]
» Read more
(Government.ru – Sept. 11, 2019 – government.ru/en/news/37840/) Excerpts from the transcript: Foreign investment Dmitry Medvedev: We live in a complicated world, and the circumstances our country has found itself in are fairly complicated as well, including sanctions and trade wars. Nevertheless, investors want to invest. Speaking of foreign investors, the RDIF and other investment-related institution activity are quite telling in […]
» Read more
(Opendemocracy.net – Gregory Asmolov – August 23, 2019) Gregory Asmolov is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at King’s College London’s Russia Institute. He researches the role of information technology in crisis situations. Crisis situations, whether natural disasters, armed conflicts or political protests are often accompanied by a cycle of technical innovation. And if it’s a question of political conflict, each […]
» Read more
“[Compared to Russia,] … China[‘s] economy is six times larger (at purchasing-power parity) … its power is growing … as Russia’s fades. … Russia is evolving into a Chinese tributary. … Russia is still a nuclear-weapons state with a permanent seat on the [UNSC]…. It has modernised its armed forces and, as in Syria, is not afraid to use them. […]
» Read more
“The primacy of Russia’s security state is beginning to crimp the global growth of the country’s information technology sector. That could foretell hard choices for the government over what it will prioritize.” “Russia has always been some version of a national security state, in which individuals, companies, and other group interests are expected to unquestioningly submit to the needs and […]
» Read more
“… Activists fear Ingushetia’s blackouts could be repeated across Russia thanks to a law signed by … Putin in May. * * * … Half of Russia’s internet traffic passes through an unassuming 19-storey high rise in southwestern Moscow … hous[ing] MSK-IX [data center], the largest of the country’s internet exchange points. … the physical point of contact for over […]
» Read more
“… For more than 33 million Russians under age 20, the leadership of Putin is the only type of government they’ve ever known. Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as president in 2000. Since then he’s bounced between the offices of president and prime minister, most recently barring Navalny from running against him in the 2018 presidential elections. … young Russians … […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, May 29, 2019) In the first quarter, Mediascope found, 75 percent of residents of major Russian cities turned to the Internet at least once a day, while only 70.4 percent of this category watched television, the first time Internet has outpaced television in Russia this way and something that will have major […]
» Read more
“… Russian intelligence organizations … could manage entirely on their own to hack e-mail accounts, line up cutouts such as WikiLeaks to disseminate damaging material, impersonate Americans on social media, and study elementary research available in open sources about battleground states and swing voters. * * * … The sections of the report that treat what Russia intended and achieved […]
» Read more
(Paul Goble – Window on Eurasia – Staunton, May 14, 2019) “Thus [the revolution] begins,” the SerpomPo telegram channel says, with the population ready to come into the square to defend its rights and dignity against the powers of “the mafia state, in this case, the state’s church department,” a segment of the regime which has failed to draw the […]
» Read more
“… former sports reporter … [Yuri Dud] runs his own YouTube interview show …. generat[ing] millions of views … a serious competitor even to state-owned TV. … [T]he subject of Dud’s latest show shocked his … 5 million [subscribers] and the general public: a two-hour documentary about the Kolyma region, in Russia’s far northeast … almost synonymous with Stalin-era repressions. […]
» Read more
“Russians have enjoyed a relatively freewheeling internet, but that is likely to change with a new surveillance law. How will the Russian public respond to their online life being closely monitored and constrained?” “Officially, Russia’s new Sovereign Internet Law is aimed at addressing problems that are vexing governments globally: the proliferation of ‘fake news’ and illegal content, the disturbing reach […]
» Read more
“… It’s worth pondering what really would throw an election’s legitimacy into question. Directly compromising the vote by hacking voting machines or disposing of absentee ballots does the job – the latter triggered the invalidation of a North Carolina House race …. So does jailing opponents, banning political parties, or threatening or bribing voters. But a social-media campaign, even coordinated […]
» Read more
“MCFAUL: … I’ve actually been dealing with Russian trolls and Russian real people on social media since I was ambassador in 2012, and I think it just underscores how sophisticated this operation was by Russia. I still fear that a lot of Americans have underestimated both their capacity to interfere in our elections and their will to do it. And […]
» Read more
(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – April 16, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russian-duma-approves-sovereign-internet-bill/29883847.html) The lower chamber of Russia’s parliament has passed a controversial bill that critics say is part of efforts by President Vladimir Putin to expand government control over the Internet. In a 307 to 68 vote on April 16, […]
» Read more
MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) – Russian Internet companies already account for about 4% of GDP and this figure will continue to rise, but regulation of the World Wide Web is inevitable because the Internet is an important part of world economy, first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, said. “In Russia the share of Internet companies is already […]
» Read more
“… Opening a discussion about setting boundaries for cyber activity going forward … need not be seen as weakness or folly. It is precisely when bilateral relations are plumbing new depths, and there seems to be no hope for improvement, that our professional national security establishments must engage. …”
» Read more
(Moscow Times – Evan Gershkovich – March 10, 2019 – themoscowtimes.com/2019/03/10/point-of-no-return-russias-libertarians-lead-protest-against-sovereign-internet-a64758) It was Saturday afternoon and Mikhail Svetov was buzzing with nervous energy. Just 24 hours later, the member of Russia’s Libertarian Party would be leading a protest against a draft bill aimed at creating a so-called sovereign internet. “I see signals that something unusual is happening. Something similar to […]
» Read more
“Russian state media published 138 contradictory accounts of the nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal last year …”
» Read more
“… Kremlin spokesman [Peskov] said … reports that the U.S. military carried out a cyberattack in Russia ahead of the U.S. midterm elections proves that the country needs to create its own, self-controlled segment of the internet. Russia’s parliament this month passed the first reading of a bill that proposes all internet traffic be routed through servers in Russia. Opponents […]
» Read more
(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Alan Crosby – February 12, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/q-a-hurdles-ahead-as-russia-surges-on-with-sovereign-internet-plan/29766229.html) Draft legislation is in the pipeline in Russia that backers say is an effort to ensure the operation of a Russian Internet if access to servers located abroad is cut off or to prevent enemies abroad […]
» Read more
“Russia is planning to temporarily disconnect from the internet … to test its cyberdefence capabilities[, a]ccording to a report on the Russian news site RBC … to analyse … preparedness for a draft law mandating a ‘sovereign’ internet. Under the draft law, all internal internet traffic would be carried within the country’s own networks. Any traffic that leaves Russia would […]
» Read more