...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...went into effect.
The government intends to create infrastructure for a sovereign internet in what it has presented as a necessary defense against cyberattacks from abroad.
Critics see the measure as a step towards increased censorship.
"This is the first time that the state has full technical control over the internet," Russian internet expert Alexander Isavnin of the anti-censorship organization Roskomsvoboda told German Press Agency (DPA).
Russian internet providers used to operate under free market conditions, but now the Russian state can exert direct control, Isavnin said.
Russian internet traffic is to be directed via hubs within the country, infrastructure for which has yet to be built. Internet providers must install the equipment needed to conduct the transition.
The media rights organization Reporters Without Borders has spoken out about the measure as serving to increase internet censorship and thereby violate fundamental freedoms. Numerous political opposition sites have already been blocked in the country.