Zharov leaves Roskomnadzor - "Vedomosti"

The head will change at Roskomnadzor: the head of the Presidential Department for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Communications Infrastructure Andrei Lipov will come to the place of the head of Alexander Zharov, the sources of Vedomosti say .

Head of Roskomnadzor Alexander Zharov. Photo: Ministry of Communications

What's happened

Zharov can go to the largest in the revenue of the Russian media holding Gazprom Media: he controls such air channels as NTV, TNT, TV-3, Friday, 2x2, TNT4, “Match TV”, “Super!”, Paid channels and radio stations.

What is important to know

Zharov headed Roskomnadzor since 2012: under him, the department has performed all the high -profile initiatives of the state to block the largest resources, including Rutracker and Telegram. In the service of the service, the court fined Google, and recently Roskomnadzor asked the court to fined Twitter and Facebook. In 2019, the law “On the Sovereign Internet”, expanding the powers of Roskomnadzor, entered into force: the service determines the rules for routing the traffic of Russian operators and controls their compliance.

Andrei Lipov, who can change Zharova to positions, has been working in the presidential administration since 2012. In 2018, he headed on the AP the new department for the development of information and communication technologies and communication infrastructure. The Office of Lipov was secretly participated in the development of resonant specialized bills - in particular, about the “sovereign Internet” - and the initiatives of the “Available Internet” from the Epistle of President Putin. According to the Russian BBC Service, it was Lipov who knocked out a change in the position of the Ministry of Communications under the bill on the “sovereign Internet”.

Lipov was associated with the criminal prosecution of one of the founders of Runet and the former deputy minister of communications Alexei Soldatov: as Medusa reported , the criminal case appeared after the intervention of the presidential administration and the application of the Ministry of Internal Affairs personally Lipov.

What's next

Officially, Zharov did not confirm his transition from the government to Gazprom Media. The fact that there is no final solution is emphasized by the interlocutors of Vedomosti.