Russia's public stance on cyberspace issues

Russian views on the nature, potential and use of cyberspace differ significantly from the Western consensus. In particular Russia has deep concerns on the principle of uncontrolled exchange of information in cyberspace, and over the presumption that national borders are of limited relevance there. Circulation of information which poses a perceived threat to society or the state, and sovereignty of the “national internet”, are key security concerns in Russia. This divergence undermines attempts to reach agreement on common principles or rules of behaviour for cyberspace with Russia, despite repeated Russian attempts to present norms of this kind to which other states are invited to subscribe. This paper examines aspects of the two most recently released public statements of Russian policy on cyberspace: the “Draft Convention on International Information Security“ (released 24 September 2011) and the Russian military cyber proto-doctrine “Conceptual Views on the Activity of the Russian Federation Armed Forces in Information Space” (released 22 December 2011) in order to describe the Russian public stance on cyberspace. Conclusions are drawn from the “Conceptual Views” on how the Russian Armed Forces see their role in cyberspace. The documents are referenced to the Information Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation (2000) as the underpinning policy document prescribing Russia's approach to information security overall, including its cyber elements. The Russian authorities considered that protests over the State Duma election results in December 2011 arose at least in part because of a cyber/information warfare campaign against Russia. The informational and political response of the Russian authorities to this is taken as a case study to measure the practical impact of the Russian views outlined above. In addition, the dynamics of the London International Conference on Cyberspace are referenced in order to illustrate failure to achieve dialogue over the difference of these views from the Western consensus.