Presidential Advisor Klimenko called the “Chinese option” the “only way” for the development of the Internet

Presidential Advisor on Internet Development German Klimenko considered the “Chinese option” the only way to develop the Internet in Russia, reports . Interfax

“The only way is the Chinese version. Of course, control is needed because there is no way to prevent this. China is less sensitive to public opinion; they assessed the threat and limited the Internet. Now they don’t have such problems,” Klimenko said.

He considered the position “strange” when “a foreign company is located on the territory of the Russian Federation, earns money, yet it does not respond to a single request from law enforcement agencies.”

“Unfortunately, we cannot write to WhatsApp and ask to disable encryption,” he complained and noted that if instant messengers and social networks do not cooperate with the security forces, “any self-respecting state should throw them out.”

In China, access to foreign sites is sanctioned by the authorities; Facebook, Twitter and other international Internet services are officially banned in the country. For the sake of working in China, search engines agreed to filter results. The traffic filtering system is known informally as the “Great Firewall of China.”

Klimenko has been working as a presidential adviser on Internet development since January 2016. Since then, he has repeatedly advocated the need for Internet companies to cooperate with Russian authorities, emphasizing that otherwise their products could be limited in distribution in Russia.

Updated 19:20 Klimenko explained that he did not propose to introduce restrictions on Internet freedom in Russia following the example of China.

“In fact, I was just telling you what the regulations are like in the world. I meant that if the Internet is limited, then it is easier to ensure security. There was no talk of restricting the Internet in the Russian Federation like in China,” he assured.