How much is a "sovereign" Runet?

It is difficult to calculate how many copies were broken in disputes about one of the most ambitious network projects of the Russian authorities: the sovereign Internet. Popular athletes, politicians, and leaders of Internet companies expressed their pros and cons. However, the law was signed and the project started. But what will be the price of the sovereignty of the Runet?

Lawmaking

The Digital Economy program, the implementation plan for the Information Security section and other sections was adopted in 2017. Around the middle of 2018, the program began to be transformed into national, and its sections into federal projects.

In December 2018, senators Andrei Klishas and Lyudmila Bokova, together with deputy Andrei Lugovoy, submitted to the State Duma the draft law “On the Autonomous (Sovereign) Internet”. The key ideas of the document were the management of the central elements of the critical infrastructure of the Internet and the mandatory installation of special equipment by Internet providers managed by Roskomnadzor.

As expected, with the help of this equipment, Roskomnadzor will be able, if necessary, to introduce centralized management of communication networks and block access to prohibited sites. It is planned that for providers it will be installed for free. Owners of cross-border Internet channels, Internet traffic exchange points, technological communication networks, organizers of information dissemination on the Internet who have their own AIS numbers, and other owners of AIS numbers will also be under control.

At the beginning of May 2019, the President signed the law “On the sovereign Internet”. However, the Security Council of the Russian Federation approved the costs of implementing these measures even before the bill was submitted to parliament in October 2018. Moreover, the Security Council increased the cost of collecting information on addresses and numbers of autonomous systems and working with technical means of managing communication networks by almost 5 times – from 951 million rubles. up to 4.5 billion rubles.

How will this money be spent?

480 million rubles. will be spent on the creation of a distributed control system and monitoring of information security within the framework of the development of the Russian state segment of the Internet RSNet (intended for servicing government agencies). 240 million rubles. allocate for the development of software and hardware tools that collect and store information about addresses, autonomous system numbers and the links between them.

Another 200 million rubles. will go on the development of software and hardware tools that ensure the stable and secure operation of the domain name system. 170 million rubles will be directed to the development of software and hardware tools that provide monitoring of traffic routes on the Internet and 145 million rubles. will spend on the development of software and hardware tools that provide monitoring and management of public communication networks.

What else is planned

At the end of April 2019, the Government adopted a resolution on subsidies from the federal budget for the establishment and operation of the Center for Monitoring and Management of Public Communication Networks and the corresponding information system. According to this document, Roskomnadzor received the right to determine the organization to which the subsidies will be sent.

The organization selected by Roskomnadzor, as part of the establishment of the Monitoring Center, will have to perform a number of tasks:

Develop software and hardware to monitor traffic routes on the Internet;
Develop software and hardware for monitoring and managing public communication networks;
To collect information about addresses, autonomous system numbers and connections between them, traffic routes on the Internet, as well as managing software and hardware to ensure the security of the Runet;
Launch Internet traffic filtering systems when children use the Internet.

Most recently, the government instructed Roskomnadzor to distribute subsidies for the creation of a Center for Monitoring Communication Networks, developing tools for collecting information on traffic routes on the Internet, and creating white lists for children’s use of the Internet.

The total cost of activities for which Roskomnadzor will provide subsidies for implementation is 4.96 billion rubles. However, in the federal budget for 2019-2021. for Roskomnadzor, only funds were allocated for the creation of the Center for Monitoring and Management of Public Communication Networks in the amount of 1.82 billion rubles. An overall plan for spending on digital security and related projects is provided in the infographic.