Putin: Russia stands for inviolability of digital sovereignty of every state
MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax) - Russia sees the need to achieve universal international agreements on the prevention of conflicts and on the development of a mutually beneficial partnership in cyberspace; this nations stands, however, for the inviolability of the digital sovereignty of every nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"We believe it is necessary to conclude universal international legal agreements aimed at preventing conflicts and building a mutually beneficial partnership in global cyberspace, at using it fully for every nation's sustainable development, at creating favorable conditions for scientific search, for the swift introduction of most advanced technological solutions when preventing potential risks," Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Friday.
It is important that nations jointly elaborate and agree on rules of responsible conduct by nations in cyberspace, which would be universal and fair for all and contain unambiguous and comprehensible criteria of acceptable and unacceptable actions, and make such rules legally binding, he said.
"In other words, every country will have to strictly abide by these rules. However, we stand for the inviolability of digital sovereignty of nations, which means that every nation may independently determine the parameters of regulation applying to their own cyberspace and relevant infrastructure," Putin said.
Russia is an advocate of equality, order and mutual respect in cyberspace and the progressive development of this sphere. "Of course, all interested partners should be given an opportunity to join the dialogue on this very important agenda," he said.
The 21st century is rightly called the time of an explosive development of digital technologies, which are conquering almost all facets of life. "The traditional spheres of the activities of state, society, business are undergoing a radical transformation, creating fundamentally new opportunities for the development of the economy and the labor market, for the improvement of the quality of people's lives. At the same time, new technological solutions give rise to new risks," Putin went on to say.
The digital space often becomes an arena of harsh information struggle, unfair competition or cyberattacks, he said. "All of that changes the situation qualitatively on the international stage. Organized crime and international terrorists are making use of the digital environment. In other words, there are many potential threats here for global security and individual countries, their sovereignty and national interests," Putin said.
Russia was among the first few countries to call on the global community to combine efforts and jointly work in this area, he said. "It is largely thanks to our efforts that the very subject of cybersecurity has firmly entered the agenda of the UN General Assembly, and the adoption of the relevant resolution has become annual," Putin said.
Russia's approaches toward forming a global regime of maintaining cybersecurity, toward the elaboration of comprehensible and clear rules remains open, transparent and unchanged, he said.