Google, Apple and Microsoft may soon have to make an exit from the Russian market owing to the plans by the nation to amplify the country’s security. The nation’s internet Tsar, German Klemenko wants to begin with removing American giants from the nation. He is also the first internet advisor of Vladimir Putin. Klemenko said in an interview that he had an interest in making the presence of tech giants of foreign companies to vanish from the Russian market.
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Klemenko has planned to hike the tax by18% on foreign companies operating in the nation including Apple and Google. This move has also been backed by parliament lawmaker, Andrey Logovoi. Klemenko has more focus on ensuring that the Russian Internet Market flourishes and takes over American tech giants hold in the nation. There are even plans to replace the Windows Operating System in the government offices with the customized version of Linux. He said that more than 22,000 municipal offices have been prepared to move to Linux systems.
This move by Russia seems out to be similar to what China did earlier. The nation built its own operating system, NeoKylin. This move was planned to have a National Internet Identity in the cyber space. Russia and many other nations consider foreign companies as a major threat to their national security.
Google has the power to track anything. It responds to requests from US agencies that amount to 32,000 requests per year as per Klemenko. Russian authorities are not happy with the surveillance conducted worldwide by GCHQ and US intelligence agency NSA. They consider this as an encroachment into the personal space. The proposed plans by the first Internet Advisor would put an end to the snooping programs into the Russian cyber space.
Russia has been greatly inspired by China as they have developed their own security programs to strengthen their cyber security as well as national. These countries wish to retain their activities for themselves and wish to offer least transparency in their affairs. This move has raised a lot of eyebrows. Google has linked the entire world with its word class connectivity and has always promoted healthy relationships with all foreign countries.
Klemenko is of the opinion that Google leaving Russia wouldn’t impact the nation much as they have their own platforms offering similar technologies. Though, Russia may not be impacted, this would certainly hinder the progress of unified global development. If this move by the nation inspires other nations, then this would isolate all the countries in the near future.