The SORM information interception system has existed in Russia and has been constantly updated since the early 1990s. Our dossier on the division of labor between intelligence agencies, telecom operators, research centers, and ministry officials within the SORM (System of Operational Investigative Measures) ecosystem.

Russia’s rulers are taking more and more extreme measures to block access to independently produced information. The Russian Duma has adopted a bill that effectively introduces punishment for internet searches deemed extremist by the authorities. In reality, it is yet another ambitious attempt by the Kremlin to change Russian social behavior following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s warming relationship with Donald Trump has given Moscow the chance to bring more people back from US prisons. Russia’s first choice was instructive.

The Kremlin is conscripting all sorts of unlikely allies in its campaign to deny accurate news and current affairs material to its citizens. 

Appointing your friends’ kids to senior jobs is not the way to find crowd-pleasing digital services, as Vladimir Putin is discovering

When Russia’s government machine cannot deliver, Vladimir Putin is increasingly reliant on a tried and trusted fixer to do the job.

The Russian regime rewards managers and engineers who keep the regime afloat, and expects a Faustian payment in return.

Four months after the war started, Russia has admitted it lacks IT specialists. But its proposed solution might only benefit the country’s neighbors.

The Kremlin has done everything possible to seal off Russian citizens from independent news media, and it’s failing.

Faced with the brutal economic consequences of its war of choice, the Kremlin is falling back on old-style communist-era policies.

Putin’s war — and the unprecedented tidal wave of global sanctions it has provoked — is having a particular impact on those young, technologically oriented Russians who represent the future of the country’s economy.

Russia has worked hard to achieve autarky in many areas, but it has not yet succeeded in tech. US retaliatory measures would bite.

Hopes of a real breakthrough are a dangerous illusion and the US should stop sharing intelligence with its hackers.