Tech ventures in Russia won’t get proper government facilities if they don’t use Russian software. The order came from the Russian president Vladimir Putin himself on Friday. Moreover, it’s a call for the Russian technology companies to switch to using the home-grown software.
Risk for national cyber-security
According to CNBC, the president said that, in some spheres, state institutions could not work with companies running foreign software. As a matter of fact, foreign software represents a risk for national cyber-security.
“In terms of security, there are things that are critically important for the state, for sustaining life in certain sectors and regions,” Interfax news agency quoted Putin as telling a meeting with Russian technology producers.
“And if you are going to bring in hardware and software in such quantities, then in certain areas the state will inevitably say to you: ‘You know, we cannot buy that, because somewhere a button will be pressed and here everything will go down’,” the agency quoted him as saying.
Russian state institutions have been gradually switching to using domestic technology
However, Russian state institutions have been gradually switching to using domestic technology as part of a Kremlin drive to cut reliance on foreign entities. Moreover, that drive accelerated after western states imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014.
All in all, private firms in Russia still primarily use imported technology. In fact, Putin’s officials have said that Russia needs to tighten up its cyber-security. Thus the country can protect itself from attacks mounted by foreign intelligence agencies.
