News: Putin’s war @home

Monday, March 7, 2022

Putin’s war @home

Mar 07, 2022

The Kremlin seen from Park Zaryad'ye in central Moscow.

The Kremlin seen from Park Zaryad'ye in central Moscow. | Misha Friedman/Getty Images

RU BLOCKED — The war in Ukraine has accelerated Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to crack down on dissent, offline and online. China already has blocked U.S. tech companies from operating on its soil. Putin is pushing Russia down a similar path, shattering the idea of a global internet village — but perhaps endorsing the tarnished idea that social media promotes individual freedom and threatens autocracy.

The notion that social media could be used to topple dictatorial regimes gained traction during the Arab Spring, but has since been questioned as misinformation runs rampant.

Nightly chatted with tech policy reporter Rebecca Kern over Slack today about the future of the internet in Russia. This conversation has been edited.

How do Russians use social media?

Many Russians use their own Russian social network called VK and the end-to-end encrypted messaging service Telegram to communicate currently. YouTube, which has a large following in Russia, with 80 to 85 percent of Russian internet users accessing it as of the end of 2020, is still available. And, while Google hasn't been blocked yet, that may be moot if most people use Yandex anyway because it works better in Cyrillic searches.

But Russia blocking Facebook and placing restrictions on Twitter can still impact Russian citizens because it dramatically limits the access they have to outside, independent news sources and connections to individuals in other countries. Citizens now have VK and their state-run media outlets RT and Sputnik available to them, making it harder to get a truthful depiction of what's actually happening on the ground in Ukraine and what Russia's role is there.

The irony is that Russia also uses Facebook, Twitter and other U.S. social media platforms to spread Russian propaganda and disinformation. So it almost limits Russia's reach of this propaganda when they block Facebook in their own country.

How are U.S. tech companies handling this conflict?

We already saw Russia start cracking down on outside tech companies with a new law requiring them to register with their communications regulator known as Roskomnadzor. You have to have a registered point of contact with this regulator. Facebook just complied with this requirement the week Russia invaded Ukraine.

It's going to put these companies in a difficult position as to whether they now want to continue to work there. U.S. social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube, in the last 10 days have blocked RT and Sputnik from their services in Europe. And YouTube and Facebook have announced they are banning advertisements and monetization on all RT channels that are still running on all of their services around the remainder of the globe.

However, it took public pressure — including calls from Sen. Mark Warner (chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee) before YouTube and Facebook stopped monetization on RT.

How will this affect the internet that we all use?

We'll continue to see more U.S. social media and tech companies leave Russia because it's becoming almost a liability to continue doing business there.

This has huge implications for internet access and freedom and is the beginning of what some call the "splinternet" effect, which would create unequal access to internet services in the Eastern versus the Western hemispheres.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight's author at rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @RenuRayasam.

HAPPENING TUESDAY, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION ON THE WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN: Join Women Rule editor Elizabeth Ralph for a panel discussion on the future for Afghan women. Guests include Hawa Haidari, a member of the Female Tactical Platoon; Cindy McCain, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture; Roya Rahmani, Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the U.S.; and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Learn how female Afghan veterans are planning their futures, what the women still in Afghanistan face, and what the U.S. can do to help. REGISTER HERE.

What'd I Miss?

White House press secretary Jen Psaki answers questions during the daily briefing.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki answers questions during the daily briefing. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

— White House is pressed on potential oil deals with Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Iran: White House press secretary Jen Psaki faced multiple questions during today's briefing on how the administration views bartering with countries "that may have engaged in unsavory actions in the past," as reports trickled out in recent days that President Joe Biden and European counterparts are discussing a ban on Russian oil imports to further punish Putin for his country's attack on Ukraine.

— Oil industry targets production hikes as U.S. tightens screws on Putin: Executives at some of the world's biggest oil and gas producers said they are ramping up their crude production as U.S. gasoline prices surge to $4 a gallon amid expectations that Biden and Congress would ban imports of Russian petroleum — but the companies warned not to expect new supplies overnight. Exxon Mobil and Chevron are both boosting oil production at the mammoth Permian Basin field in West Texas and New Mexico, strategies that both oil majors laid out last year but that have taken on new urgency because of the surge in oil prices to their highest level in 14 years.

— Congress takes aim at Russia with trade penalties: Congressional trade leaders have agreed to pursue bipartisan legislation that aims to punish Putin for his invasion of Ukraine by suspending normal trade relations with Russia and imposing a ban on Russian energy imports. The bipartisan effort would allow Biden to increase tariffs on products from Russia and Belarus, which would also see normal trade relations halted by the bill. Relations could be restored "subject to certain conditions and congressional disapproval."

— SCOTUS won't block new battleground state congressional maps: The Supreme Court rebuffed Republicans' attempts to block new congressional maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania , leaving in place court-imposed redistricting that could boost Democrats in this year's House elections. The twin orders, handed down this afternoon, are short-term losses for the GOP — but they left open the possibility that at least some of the Republican-appointed justices would embrace a once-fringe legal theory that could drastically reshape the rules under which federal elections are run in some states.

— Florida's controversial surgeon general recommends against Covid-19 vaccination for kids: Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo announced today that the state is breaking with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and will be the first state in the nation to recommend against giving the Covid-19 vaccines to kids ages 5 and older . Ladapo, speaking at a roundtable today with Gov. Ron DeSantis and medical professionals who oppose much of the CDC's recommendations, did not elaborate. Two others who participated in the discussion were Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University professor of medicine, and biostatistician Martin Kuldorff. Both were the chief signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration, which calls for a hands-off approach toward managing the pandemic and instead advocates for natural "herd immunity."

— White House split delays plans for investment controls on China: Disagreements between key White House national security and economic officials are delaying the Biden administration's plans for new rules on American banks that invest in Chinese technology firms and startups . National security officials, led by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, have been advocating for months for Biden to issue an executive order that would prohibit many American investments in Chinese technology firms and startups, arguing it is needed to ensure U.S. banks aren't helping Chinese firms develop software or devices later used by the People's Liberation Army.

— Supreme Court won't review decision that freed Bill Cosby: The U.S. Supreme Court announced today without comment that it would not review Bill Cosby's sexual assault case, leaving him a free man and ending a two-decade legal drama that shifted the cultural landscape, destroyed the groundbreaking Black actor's reputation, and sent him to prison for several years. The high court — whose nine members include two men accused of sexual misconduct themselves — declined to review a stunning decision out of Pennsylvania that released Cosby from prison in June due to the word of a former prosecutor who said he had made a secret promise with Cosby's lawyers that he could never be charged.

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Nightly Number

"Nearly 100 percent"

The amount of Russian combat forces amassed on the border that the United States assesses that Russia has sent into Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official told reporters today.

Parting Words

Residents of Irpin, fleeing heavy fighting, pass a church that was shelled after Russian forces entered the city in Ukraine.

Residents of Irpin, fleeing heavy fighting, pass a church that was shelled after Russian forces entered the city in Ukraine. | Chris McGrath/Getty Images

WHAT KYIV WANTS — Our colleagues at National Security Daily report that Ukraine wants air-defense systems and an increase in American military support, according to a letter Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., sent to lawmakers this afternoon.

Congress is cobbling together a robust funding package to send urgent military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine as it fends off Russian invaders. Markarova asked on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Congress "immediately provide Ukraine with aircraft and air defense systems"; "increase the amount of Presidential drawdown authority in FY 2022"; and "increase the amount to be included in the package for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative."

Markarova also asked that Congress make the funds "maximally flexible" so that the Ukrainian government can use the money as it sees fit. Congress has historically provided foreign countries with limited flexibility as part of military aid packages, so this specific request from Markarova might fall on deaf ears.

Still, the ambassador — who was first lady Jill Biden's guest at last week's State of the Union address — will find a receptive audience on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers from both parties say they want the U.S. to provide more military and economic assistance to help Ukraine fend off Russia's invasion.

"The Ukrainians are telling Congress exactly what they need to defend themselves. They're doing everything except drafting the bill and filing it with the cloak room," said a senior Republican Senate staffer.

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