What Is 'Sovereign Runet': Russia Developing Alternative To Internet

Russia has tested an alternative to the internet, designed to keep the country online should it be cut from the global network, the BBC reported.

Details of the tests on the “sovereign Runet” were not released but officials described them as successful.

The system would restrict how Russia connects to the global network, blocking undersea nodes that connect countries. The new system would render virtual private networks useless but require a vast infrastructure now currently in place.

Russia also plans to create its own Wikipedia.

"The results of the exercises showed that, in general, both the authorities and telecoms operators are ready to effectively respond to emerging risks and threats, to ensure the stable functioning of both the internet and unified telecommunication network in the Russian Federation," said Alexey Sokolov, who heads the Ministration of Communications. Sokolov said users did not see any disruptions during the test.

Sokolov told Tass the tests were aimed at assessing the internet of things and how the network would react to an outside attack.

Ilya Rogachev, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for New Challenges and Threats, said earlier this year the countrywide intranet would have all the capabilities of the internet and was being developed as a contingency. He said the government currently has no intention of cutting the nation off from the rest of the world.

"Increasingly, authoritarian countries which want to control what citizens see are looking at what Iran and China have already done,” Professor Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at the University of Surrey, told the BBC.

"It means people will not have access to dialogue about what is going on in their own country, they will be kept within their own bubble."

The alternative network was developed under the so-called sovereign internet law, which Leonid Levin, chairman of Russia’s Committee on Informational Policy, described as “more about creating a reliable internet that will work in the event of external influences, such as a massive hacker attack.”

The insulated network would allow Russia to disconnect from the rest of the internet and requires providers to do more filtering with “deep package inspection” tools no later than January 2021. Initial tests of the tools in September were unsuccessful, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported.

Artem Kozlyuk, founder of the digital rights NGO Roskomsvoboda, told the Moscow Times he would be surprised if Russia used its alternative to separate from the World Wide Web.

“[It] would be like closing down its airspace,” Kozlyuk said.

Russia has cut itself off in times of unrest, however. During protests in Igushtia in October 2018, it interrupted access to social media via mobile networks for nearly two weeks.