Presidential spokesman says Kremlin, govt for Internet freedom

MOSCOW, Mar 11 (PRIME) -- The Kremlin and the government support freedom of the Internet, the president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Moscow saw an authorized manifestation on March 10 against the bill on protection of the Runet, the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, which was approved by the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, in the first out of three mandatory readings in February.

Peskov said, “The thing is that everyone is for freedom of the Internet: authors of the bill, the president’s administration, and the government. Nobody wants to cut off the Internet or limit options of functioning of the global Web. This is why the position of campaigners for the free Internet is clear, but we cannot back up their misunderstanding, misconception that the adopted bills will somehow restrict freedom of the Internet,” Peskov said.

“They are specifically aimed at maintaining sustainability of the Internet in the conditions of potential aggressive actions in the cyber space regarding our country.”

“I watched TV in the morning today, and one of the campaigners said, ‘They want to push a button and disconnect the Internet.’ He said it about authorities of the Russian Federation. But it’s an absolute fallacy,” Peskov said.

“And this participant is not afraid at all that someone overseas will push this button and disconnect him from the Internet. This is what should be feared of, while actions of law makers and the government are to save our citizens from disconnection in case of such a situation.”

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