Isolate Russia from the Internet? A punishment that could go too far

Western countries have confiscated the yachts of Russian oligarchs and expelled Russian banks from the international system in response to the invasion of Ukraine, but sanctions that limit Internet access generate divisions.

Kiev has called for Russia to be disconnected from the World Wide Web.

But experts, politicians and human rights defenders warn that sanctions of this scale risk being counterproductive by isolating those in Russia who oppose the war in Ukraine and further pushing away the dream of a universal Internet.

“It seems counterproductive in terms of efforts to spread democratic messages and win hearts and minds,” stresses Peter Micek, legal director of Access Now, an NGO fighting for digital rights.

In itself, Moscow's censorship has already drastically reduced independent news sources.

Many local and international media outlets have ceased their activity. Access to major social networks is difficult, unless you use a virtual private network (VPN).

Tech giants, from Google to Sony, have responded to calls by the Ukrainian government to punish Russia by suspending the sale of certain products or services in that country.

But while access is increasingly restricted from within and outside Russia, many experts are promoting a change of approach.

“Sanctions must be targeted and precise,” aimed at the army or propaganda agencies, wrote about 40 researchers, digital freedoms advocates and European elected officials, in particular, in an open letter published last week.

“They must minimize the risk of collateral damage,” because “sanctions that are disproportionate or too broad risk alienating populations,” they said.

The signatories also called for the creation of a “multilateral mechanism” that would be responsible for evaluating and implementing sanctions, for example, to block access to Russian military websites.

Others warn that building a digital wall around Russia would be technically and politically complicated.

Ukraine asked ICANN for just that on 28 February, but the global regulator responsible for assigning Internet addresses rejected the request arguing the need to remain neutral.

“Network infrastructures are very intertwined. If we want to prevent traffic from entering through the window, it will enter through the basement,” explains Ronan David, CEO of the startup Efficient IP, a specialist in computer network security.

- "Injustas" -

After the invasion of Ukraine, the European Union banned official Russian media RT and Sputnik from broadcasting from the European audiovisual spectrum, on social media and even in Google search results.

Russia responded by blocking the BBC and Facebook, as well as Instagram, an app that many Russian influencers and entrepreneurs rely on for their businesses.

Natalia Krapiva, a lawyer at Access Now, stresses that on the basis of official Russian information, “people may believe that Russia is trying to help Ukrainians and is only targeting military objectives.”

In that context, Russian citizens are likely to find these sanctions “completely unfair” on the part of the West, he says.

- Internet “censored” -

This isolation could be reinforced over time, as alternatives are established, more easily controlled by the Russian government, or even on its initiative.

“Russians are quite capable of building a national network”, but it would be very different from the Internet, estimates Pierre Bonis, CEO of Afnic, the association that manages the extension “.fr”.

“We must not break the universality of the Internet, even if Russians do unacceptable things,” he insists.

China already has a largely separate Internet, and other countries aspire to this model.

“Iran has spent the last decade building a National Information Network (NIN) as a viable alternative to the global Internet,” Micek says.

According to him, sanctions favor “the development of this even more censored national Internet”.

He regrets that many companies, “which do not have the time or capacity to understand the legal nuances” of sanctions, go too far and simply withdraw from the country.

“Upwork, one of the platforms we rely on to help civil society and support democratic actors in Russia, has stopped serving immediately.”

For the most determined Russians, the use of VPNs remains, some of which have been banned in recent years in Russia: demand jumped 2.692% on March 14 compared to the week before the invasion of Ukraine, according to top10vpn.com.

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