Russia is drawing its lessons from Edward Snowden’s disclosures about massive U.S. electronic spying programmes, with security services switching to old-fashioned typewriters to prevent leaks and the government seeking to tighten control over the Internet. The Federal Guards Service FSO in charge of protecting Russia’s top leadership has placed an order for 20 electric typewriters that would be used instead of computers to prepare top-secret documents, a Russian daily, Izvestia , reported quoting a FSO source. Some Russian government agencies, including the Ministry of Defence, the Emergency Situations Ministry and secret services, have never stopped using typewriters for security purposes, the paper said.
In far more serious fallout of Mr. Snowden’s exposures, Russian authorities are planning to impose restrictions on the Internet. The Upper House of the Russian Parliament, the Federation Council, will shortly set up an inter-agency commission to look into the facts of “U.S. intelligence agencies gaining access to people’s personal data through internet providers.” Some lawmakers have called for a ban on storing Russian government and private data on foreign servers.