Russia researches new Runet network to replace World Wide Web

Leaked sources from Russia said that Russia is testing an internal network called Runet on a large scale, aiming to separate from the current global World Wide Web (www).

The Telegraph quoted the General Director of Er Telecom Group (Russia), specializing in providing internet services - Mr. Andrei Semerikov, revealing that this group has received orders from the Russian Ministry of Information and the national internet regulator Roskomnadzor, to block information channels from outside to Russia and from inside the country to outside, using the DPI control system.

WWW has become a familiar symbol all over the world.

The test, which was carried out in the spring of this year, failed because some small internet providers, which account for about 50% of the market share in Russia and do not use DPI's technology, continued to transmit information abroad. In addition, internet links from satellites are often difficult to block, Mr. Semerikov said.

From another perspective, the RBK newspaper (Russia) cited other sources of information saying that the spring test was a follow-up to a similar activity in July 2014. At that time, the FSB - the Russian Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia cooperated with the national telecommunications operator to consider whether the Runet intranet with some domain names could operate well when separated from the global internet.

But there are also sources saying that the above tests were ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, to examine the ability of the Runet network to operate independently in case of Western sanctions.

Russian officials have denied the test. A spokesman for Russia’s national internet regulator told The Telegraph, “There was no such test.” Meanwhile, RBK newspaper quoted another official as saying that Sermerikov’s information was untrue.

According to XHTT