FSB smashes "enemy" satellite Internet

How the victory of ONEWB projects will throw Russia into the past

Last Wednesday, the FSB of Russia published an extensive statement about the undesirable participation of Russia in the international project of a satellite communication group with an emphasis on access to the online OneWeb. The representative of the department Vladimir Sadovnikov said that the groups of the group will make the domestic communication operators in sparsely populated areas unprofitable, will put the Russians in full depending on foreign signalmen and can be used for intelligence against Russia. The application had the widest resonance in the professional community and social networks.

The public statement of counterintelligence on the threat of projects, still discussed in the government, is a very rare case. I consider it as an instrument of influence, the “artillery of the reserve of the main command” in the struggle of the two groups of influence in the leadership and business of our country. The statement does not indicate the final victory of one group, but sharply strengthens its position in the hardware struggle.

The conflict around the licenses for broadcasting for a satellite communication group over the territory of Russia lasts a very long time and is in an acute phase of about a year. Serious forces are involved on both sides. Employees of the Presidential Administration were divided.

Some of them advocate a joint project with OneWeb. On this side, according to our sources, the Deputy Prime Minister for the digitalization of the Akimov economy, Roscosmos (at least until recently), President of the Ju-Do Russia Federation of an billionaire Anisimov, connected in this part with the interests of Igor Rotenberg (always publicly denied such an interest). Officials close to the former Minister of Communications Schegolev (now the presidential representative in the Central District), the FSUE “Cosmic Communication” and its old, but still existing communication project for the Arctic “Express-RV” (grouping of four satellites) are opposed to the issuance of OneWeb frequency. The struggle was very tough, Putin had several meetings on this issue.

Having published a negative conclusion on the project, the FSB sharply strengthened the group of opponents of international cooperation.

But the issue has not yet been completely resolved, if it is victory, then temporary or even intermediate. As a member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics Andrei Ionin noted in an interview with the newspaper, “the space Internet system is not a whim, but the necessary element of the digital economy that will be built inevitably.”

According to Mr. Ionin, a vast and very costly program “Digital Economy” has been adopted in Russia. And to embody it without a satellite group is unrealistic. Here the question arises of contractors and operators: due to the state of the domestic element base of the SPACE reliability category, enterprises that produce satellites and small experience in managing trading initiatives of this kind, our country cannot create its own satellite grouping.

“Security issues really exist, but safety is not absolute,” the expert added.

The experts in the field of information security we interviewed call the FSB statement that she cannot check on this subject the OneWeb project. There is no doubt that the one who wants to get the frequency of Oneweb relates to security issues responsibly and is ready to reveal the necessary details. You just need to write the right requests. If the FSB leadership requested the necessary documents and meetings with its responsible managers, but would have received a categorical refusal, I could probably take such a statement seriously.

If we compare OneWeb with the previous generation system of the previous generation “Iridium”, which is operating on our territory (with all licenses), then “peaceful”, that is, the Oneweb purely commercial and open character is obvious. But the Iridium, according to the open description, has much greater possibilities in the field of reconnaissance, including through the closed interlocutor canal, which displays the signal from the zone of action of any national control bodies (the Oneweb system does not have such properties). In all available information, the Iridium system is extremely close to US power structures, and their retirees form the composition of its board of directors.

The statement about the upcoming dependence of Russian citizens on foreign communication providers also surprised experts. “Space Internet is a duplicate extensive cable and mobile networks of communication channel. For example, in few inhabited areas of Russia. Less percent of the population lives there, ”said Andrei Ionin. “Everywhere where there is economic and social expediency, where at least a thousand people live, there is Russian cellular or cable communication.”

Andrei Ionin draws attention to an interesting detail. “For the first time in the history of space technology, it became possible to create purely national segments, groups within more complex groups of several states. The group can consist of several hundred or thousands of satellites, most of which can belong exclusively to Russia and, in the case of force majeure, form a separate independent communication system with simple software teams. Such a structure allows states and commercial operators easier to negotiate the project and ensures more trust. ”

The impossibility of independent creation, and simply inappropriateness of a separate, purely national satellite grouping of the new generation Internet livaries (the area of ​​Russia is 3% of the land area) leaves Russia two exits. Create a hypothetical group in cooperation with partner states in BRICS or as part of shareholders of OneWeb. I note that the non -existent project of the BRICS states gives more guarantees that our country will be allowed at its services under any circumstances that sometimes paralyze commercial systems such as SWIFT.

But in order to create such a project, at least on paper, you need to work actively with partners, and on our part there are only statements. The KNR delegation in the summer came to Dmitry Rogozin with a similar proposal and left with a zero result. And time does not wait - Oneweb starts next year.

From this it follows that the temporary victory of the ONEBEB opponent clan in the presidential administration and industry, which was marked by the FSB statement, will only lead to the delay in the Digital Economy program. The total digitalization of Russia that proclaimed at the Putin level will inevitably have to soon begin negotiations again, but now in the role of a catching up player and in the much worse trading conditions.