In the run-up to Russia’s Sept. 17-19 parliamentary elections, as the authorities have been purging the field of almost all genuine opposition politicians, the battle against dissent is also raging online.
In recent weeks, among other measures, the authorities barred dozens of websites linked to jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, including his main website navalny.com. They had Yandex remove ‘Smart Voting,’ the pro-opposition online system designed by the Navalny team, from its search results.
Western tech giants were also targeted by the censorship campaign:
- In the course of the summer Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator, demanded that YouTube block Navalny’s channel; then Google and Apple were ordered to remove the politician’s app from their stores. (This app is part of the Smart Vote system.)
- On Sept. 2, Roskomnadzor ramped up pressure on Apple and Google, threatening them with administrative charges and multi-million-ruble penalties. The companies’ intransigence could constitute at least two felonies: interference in Russia’s elections and participation in the actions of extremist organizations, said the regulator, referring to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was outlawed in June.
- On Sept. 9, as reported by the news agency RAPSI, the Moscow prosecutor’s office sent a letter to the CEOs of Apple and Google, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, demanding that their companies block the Navalny app. The authorities view the app as technology funded from abroad and not by Russian taxpayers, and in turn as a violation of Russian electoral law. “This testifies to Apple’s violation of Russian electoral law and illegal foreign meddling in the internal affairs of the country and its influence on the exercise of free will by Russian citizens,” a source close to the prosecutor’s office was quoted by RAPSI as saying.
- In a parallel development, Roskomnadzor demanded that Apple, Google, Cloudflare and Cisco work to enforce Russia’s blockage of the Smart Vote website — and limit users’ ability to circumvent the tools the authorities use to prevent access. While these and “several other companies” are “ignoring lawful orders,” non-compliance will be construed as “foreign interference” in the elections. They are also potentially as “aiding and abetting the activities of an extremist organization.”
- On Sept. 10, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also got involved, summoning the US ambassador in Moscow over what they consider to be an interference of US tech giants in the elections. As reported by the ministry, US ambassador John Sullivan held a meeting with Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov. Sullivan was presented with “irrefutable proof” of US tech majors violating Russian laws in the context of the upcoming elections. The ministry also conveyed the “categorical inadmissibility of interference in the domestic affairs of our [respective] countries.”
The state’s campaign to block access to ‘Smart Voting’ and the related resources have also included attacks on servers, police raids, arrests, and more, as reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Meduza and a variety of other media.
Combined reports from Meduza, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, AFP via The Moscow Times
