According to a notice sent by the Central Bank of Russia to various banks in Russia, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (RKN) plans to conduct an internet access restriction drill in December 2024.
This information was not directly disclosed by the RKN, but rather the regulatory agency informed the Central Bank of Russia to prepare, as institutions such as banks can submit a whitelist of IP addresses if necessary.
Russia plans to conduct a drill in December to disconnect from the international internet.
According to the plan, Russia will practice disconnecting from the international internet in certain regions, but if relevant agencies/organizations need to access the international internet, they must submit a list of IP addresses to RKN for whitelisting by November 15, 2024.
IP addresses that successfully apply for whitelisting will not be blocked during the disconnection drill, while other IPs not on the whitelist will be blocked from connecting, which will render related services unavailable.
Currently, sources have not disclosed which regions Russia plans to test, but this plan is likely intended to assess whether various services within Russia operate normally in the event of a complete disconnection from the international internet.
Previously, Russia has already blocked domains of video sites and internet service providers such as YouTube, Amazon AWS, and GoDaddy, aiming to reduce dependence on foreign services as much as possible.
However, completely disconnecting from the international internet remains an unrealistic scenario. The current testing in Russia may be to evaluate potential impacts, as in some extreme cases, Russia may be unable to connect to the international internet or be actively blocked by most service providers.
Therefore, with potential assessment results, Russia can prepare in advance, such as withdrawing most critical services from the international internet back to within Russia, ensuring that these services can operate normally in extreme situations.