Putin Now Has Russia’s Internet Kill Switch To Stop U.S. Cyberattacks(Source forbes.com)

It has been in the works for years, and was signed into law in May. Now the final approvals have been put in place for Russian President Vladimir Putin to disconnect Russia from the world wide web if “required.” Politically, the rationale for this capability is to defend the state in the event of “threats to the stability, security and integrity of the functioning of the internet and the public communications network.” For which you can read a cyberattack emanating from the U.S., its allies or its proxies. When Putin signed the Russian Internet (RuNet) into law, critics immediately honed in on the isolationist and censorship risk, quite apart from any cyber warfare threat, arguing that the country’s lawmakers had opened the door to a Chinese-style firewall disconnecting Russia from the outside world. Unsurprisingly, Russia and China have now become closer as the two countries battle U.S. influence over key technology areas.