Russia Successfully Tests its own Version of Internet

Russia has successfully conducted its series of tests on the country’s national internet infrastructure to provide an alternative to the global internet. The Russian version of the internet will create a national system of domain names that aims to function without any access to the external internet and the global Domain Name System (DNS).  The Russian internet will be the largest intranet (a private network) of the world.
The Russian Government in a press conference on Monday 23rd December 2019 said that during the tests it has successfully disconnected the internet services in Russia from the global internet by re-routing the traffic through the state-controlled infrastructure. The test was started in the last week, and carried out over multiple days was conducted with state-run institutions, communication operators, message services, security services, and email providers.
The tests initially scheduled to be conducted earlier in the month of April was delayed as the government required time to pass a law accompanying the initiative. On 1st November 2019, the Sovereign Internet law came into force that will provide more control to the Russian Government over what its citizens can access. As per the law, the Russian Government can disconnect the internet services in the country from the rest of the world.  The step was taken by the Russian Government as a security measure to protect its citizens and institutions from a foreign threat like cyber-attack or in the event of a war and emergency.


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