This was emphasized by Olena Kushnir, director of VEB PRO LLC, advisor to the deputy minister of digital transformation during the briefing “Protection and protection of the local segment of the Internet” at the Media Center of Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“Since 2014, in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea, in the so-called DPR and LPR, operators and Internet providers had to re-register companies and IP resources to legal entities operating in accordance with local laws. Even in regions not recognized by any country in the world, IP “The transfers of their addresses have begun. Unfortunately, the European registrar RIPE NCC, which distributes Internet resources in the countries of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia in accordance with the provisions of its activity, must maintain its neutrality. Therefore, it accepts documents from companies registered in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.” said.

According to him, such legal relations continue even today. Therefore, the Ukrainian segment of the Internet is losing a large amount of valuable resources. And the Ukrainians in the captured territories are forced to take Russian traffic. This, in turn, not only leads to complete information isolation, but also exposes them to processing by the propaganda machine that the Internet has transformed into in Russia itself and in the occupied territories.

“Communications operators are critical infrastructure that the Russians are trying to seize primarily for their propaganda work. And in the occupied areas, the Internet has become an absolutely real tool for waging war, not just hybrid but direct. Propaganda fueled people join illegal armed groups and go to war. ” said.

In addition, RIPE noted that the NCC resorted to preventive measures at the beginning of Russian aggression in 2014, “freezing” the transfer of IP addresses from the territory of Ukraine to its borders, or at least verifying the documents submitted for it. registration by operators and Internet providers from temporarily occupied territories will contribute to the preservation of a large number of IP resources in Ukraine today and to avoid restrictions on the Internet by the occupying Russian authorities in temporarily occupied territories.

As reported, the European Union plans to lay an underwater Internet cable across the Black Sea to improve communications with Georgia and reduce dependency on communications infrastructure passing through Russia.