In an apparent bid to make Russia less vulnerable to further Western sanctions and potential cyberattacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an executive order – effective from Thursday – banning state agencies and semi-government entities to buy foreign software for use in critical infrastructure projects.
The decree is Moscow’s way to answer to sanctions aimed at cutting Russia off from both the high-tech goods made in third-party countries using American intellectual property and its own high-tech industry.
The requirements software needed for government agencies at vital information infrastructure facilities must release by regulators and approved by the Russian Federation’s government within a month just like the regulations for coordinating the purchase of foreign software and services required for its use.
The decree, which will lessen Russia’s reliance on Western technology and ensure its technological independence, says that foreign software, including part of software and hardware systems, can no longer be purchased without being approved by a federal executive body authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation.
It also orders that every government body or customer must phase out foreign software’s use in critical infrastructure no later than January 1, 2025.
Putin’s executive order envisages organizing – by the end of September at the latest – a research and production association focused on manufacturing trusted software and hardware systems intended for critical information infrastructure, prioritizing in the process the use of domestic radio, electronic and telecom-related technology over foreign equipment.
Measures aimed at achieving this goal are to be released within six months by the Cabinet of Ministers, which is also in charge of establishing a monitoring and control system and conducting essential personnel training and retraining.
Meanwhile, the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council and former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, pointed out on Wednesday that the “boomerang” effect of the latest rounds of sanctions the US President Biden imposed hoping to cut off more than half of Moscow’s access to high-tech imports is already returning to hit the West.
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