Russia Adopts New Strategy for Development of Information Society - Jamestown 25/09/2022, 22:46 The information society development strategy states that “in 2016, the overall number of active users of the Internet in Russia reached 80 million people.” At the same time, the document acknowledges Russian vulnerabilities to external challenges in the cyber and information spheres. Namely, it points to the “existing gap” between leading global players and Russia in the domain of IT. To overcome this limitation, the newly approved Strategy calls for the following measures to be implemented between 2017 and 2030 (TASS (http://tass.ru/obschestvo/4240969), May 10): 1. The proliferation of Russian encryption mechanisms and enhancement of coordination in communication between various federal agencies; 2. The replacement of foreign IT equipment, software and electronic components with domestically produced analogues; 3. The protection of domestic “critical information infrastructure” (the term tends to appear in government planning documents much more frequently now than ever before) is to be secured with Russian applications and telecommunications software; and 4. An upgrade to the effectiveness of domestic communications networks, leading toward the creation of a “centralized system of monitoring and management of the Russian electronic grid” and the improvement of mechanisms of legislative regulation of mass media activities. Most areas outlined in the document are not simply technical innovations and/or legislative proposals. Incidentally, the Strategy devotes an extremely important role to ideological concerns, including: 1. The prioritization of Russian “traditional spiritual and cultural values”; 2. The necessity to “create conditions for the popularization of Russian culture and science abroad” as well as confronting the “distortion and falsification of historical facts”; and 3. The proliferation of “steady cultural and educational contacts with Russian compatriots [sootechestvenniki] living abroad, foreign citizens, [as well as] persons without citizenship” who are, however, “Russian native speakers” through employment of “communicational and information technologies.” Another essential task outlined in the document is to create a basis for a national electronic library that would include “objects of historical, scientific and cultural heritage of nations populating the Russian Federation.” Undoubtedly, this aspect (as well as the three aforementioned points) is directly related to the so-called “Russian World” (“Russkiy Mir”) concept that aims to propagate Russian “soft power” aboard. https://jamestown.org/program/russia-adopts-new-strategy-development-information-society/ Page 3 of 5