State Duma passes law ‘isolating’ Russian Internet

The State Duma has approved the third and final reading of a bill “providing for the save and sustainable functioning” of the Internet on Russian territory.

The law would allow the Russian government to control all connections between the Russian segment of the Internet and the rest of the world. It provides for the creation of infrastructure that would enable the Russian segment to work in isolation if operators are unable to connect with Internet servers abroad. The agency responsible for executing the law will be Roskomnadzor, the Russian government’s censorship organ.

Most of the Internet isolation law is scheduled to take effect on November 1, 2019. Certain provisions on encryption and a national domain name system will take effect later, on January 1, 2021.

Russia’s Federation Council will consider the law on April 22, said on of its sponsors, Senator Andrey Klishas.