Putin Orders FSB to Fight Cyber Attacks

Russian President Vladimir Putin on 15 January issued a decree ordering the Federal Security Service (FSB) to create a government cyber protection system for finding, issuing warnings about, and fixing computer attacks on Russian information resources as well as information telecommunications networks located on Russian territory and diplomatic and consulate facilities abroad. The decree would further grant the FSB authority to place non-government information resources under monitoring for such attacks with the consent of the owners of the information sources.

An anonymous Vedomosti source “close to the FSB” claimed that the decree will create a branch within the FSB that will coordinate questions of cyber security in government bodies, taking over the functions of already existing branches working on similar issues. The decree became effective on the day of its signing.

Hacking attacks, many of them politically motivated, on both government and non-government resources are common in Russia. According to the FSB, there are over 10,000 hacking attacks on the websites of the president, Duma, and Federation Council each day. State-owned daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta also raised the spectre of the growing use of “information weapons” as justification for the move.

Introduction of Russia’s Bill Barring Critical Foreigners From Working in State Media Delayed

It appears that Mikhail Starshinov, Andrey Lugovoy, Oleg Denisenko, and Igor Zotov did not manage to finish writing their “anti-Pozner” bill by the 18th as promised. Starshinov explained the delay by asserting that the group had run into difficulty because “it’s not that easy to write it,” but pledged that work on the new bill would continue.

Experts do not expect the bill to be signed into law and many journalists have sided with famous Russian commentator and journalist Vladimir Pozner.

Former Kremlin spin doctor Gleb Pavlovskiy gave the bill no chance of passing. He said the Duma had “gotten too big for its britches” and that the issue should be a private matter. He opined that passing such a law would “invite scandal and strengthen the hostile attitude towards the Duma among journalists.”

The leader of Duma party Just Russia, Sergey Mironov, said he would not support such a law if it were introduced in session. He stated: “I do not think we need a law for every sneeze.” He continued “I think this is not the topic and these are not the questions on which the Duma should be working.”  Asked about the bill’s chances of being passed, he said: “A lot of stupid things are adopted by the Federal Duma, I cannot rule out that this will be one of them, but I do not know.”

Pavel Gusev, the editor in chief of Moskovskiy Komsomolets also predicted failure for the bill, calling it a “bluff” and accusing the bill’s sponsors of participating in a PR stunt to garner press attention and prove their loyalty.

But Pozner is still not out of the woods yet. The Duma has many ways of making people talk (or not talk in this case).

Last week, the Duma approved an order to the committee on security and fighting corruption to prepare and present information on salaries at Pozner’s employer, Pervyy Kanal. Specifically the deputies wanted to inquire 1) Do journalists with foreign citizenship receive higher salaries than employees who only have Russian salaries. 2) If so, on the basis of what documentation. 3) Does the journalist Vladimir Pozner receive a higher salary for having American and French citizenships compared to those who only have Russian citizenship.

According to Izvestiya, the bill’s sponsors will raise the topic of Pozner during their 22 January meeting with Russian prime minister Dmitriy Medvedev in order to suss out the government’s position.

Proposed Russian Law Could Ban Critical Foreigners From Working In State Media

After some back and forth, Duma deputies will present a bill that, if passed, would bar foreign-born journalists who criticize Russia or its government bodies from holding positions in Russian media, especially television stations, that have government participation or support.

The draft bill was prompted by comments made by famous Russian journalist and commentator Vladimir Pozner on the ban on Americans adopting Russian children. He called the Federal Duma “Gosudarstvennoy duroy” (“Federal Dummy”). He later apologized. In response, four Duma deputies representing all of the parties in the Duma sent Pozner a letter in which they criticized his words, saying they “offended the Russian parliament” and “discredit the government” and came together to sponsor this bill. Pozner holds Russian, French, and American citizenships.

Mikhail Starshinov, the head of the group of deputies who sponsored the bill, pledged to have it written by 18 January. He stated that the main goal of the bill is to “forbid those with foreign citizenships to work in government mass media and use it to conduct systematic defamation of Russia and its government bodies.”

If passed the law would potentially have great reach in Russian because the Russian state is the major player in the country’s media sphere. According to Freedom House, the Russian government owns all six national television networks, two national radio networks, two of the 14 national newspapers, more than 60 percent of the roughly 45,000 registered local newspapers and periodicals, and two national news agencies. Many other media sources are owned by companies with close ties to the government.

Shares of TV audience as of December 2012. Stations in blue are government-owned, stations in purple are owned by government-friendly companies, the station in red is politically independent, stations in yellow are privately owned and largely entertainment-focused.

However, it seems the bill will not have much actual impact on anyone besides Pozner at this time. According to TV Rain, there are not many journalists on Russian federal channels who have multiple citizenships.

The Russian government, and ruling party United Russian in particular, appear to be highly concerned about foreign influence in the country. In July United Russia  floated a bill to dub media sources that receive financing from abroad or work in partnership with foreign media “foreign agents.”  The bill’s sponsor Yevgenyy Fedorov, justified the move, stating “many mass media sources obtain funds from abroad and act as the mouthpiece of foreign governments.”  Fedorov stated that he was inspired to write the bill because “manipulation [of the Russian political sphere] takes place with the help of foreign money not only through NGOs, but possibly through the mass media as well.” The bill was not approved at the time, but in November, a softer bill was introduced that required media sources with more than 50% foreign financing to inform their readers that they are financed from abroad. This followed the passing of a controversial law that required NGOs that receive financing from abroad to register as foreign agents and undergo much more intense auditing.