President Vladimir Putin's internet adviser German Klimenko has sought to reassure Russians that contingency plans are ready in case the country is cut off from the global internet.
In late 2016, Klimenko defended a controversial data localization law by warning that the country could be at risk of being totally cut off from the World Wide Web.
“Technically, we are ready for any action now,” Klimenko said when asked about a hypothetical internet shutdown in an interview with the pro-Kremlin NTV television channel that aired on Monday.
“If our colleagues disconnect us from the switch tomorrow, I don’t know if it will be painless, though we’ve been promised that it will be painless,” he added.
Klimenko warned that Russians who host their domains abroad “would probably experience certain difficulties.”
“In and of itself, there are no hardware-software dangers that should prevent us from living good and well, even if they declare such a war against us,” he said.
