Russia Increasing Digital Surveillance Efforts to Monitor Citizens Opposed to War in Ukraine
As the conflict in Ukraine continues, Russia has turned to new technologies to monitor citizens who oppose the war within its own borders. The Russian authorities have amassed a collection of surveillance tools to aid in an internal crackdown, leading to the growth of a cottage industry of tech contractors which build innovative and powerful means of digital surveillance. These technologies have given the police and Russia’s Federal Security Service (F.S.B.) access to a range of spying capabilities focused on tracking the daily activities of citizens on phones and websites.
The demand for surveillance tools increased after Russia invaded Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin is increasingly relying on technology to wield political power in the face of military setbacks, economic sanctions, and leadership challenges. Russia, which formerly lagged behind other authoritarian regimes such as China and Iran, is now quickly catching up in their use of modern technology for control.
The use of these surveillance technologies has made citizens paranoid, with people unsure whether their communications are secure and the government actively monitoring online traffic. What was once only for activists has now been expanded to include anyone who disagrees with the war. This effort has provided financial gains for numerous relatively unknown Russian technology firms, many of which are owned by Citadel Group, a business partially controlled by Alisher Usmanov, one of President Putin’s “favorite oligarchs” who was targeted by European Union sanctions.
These firms, including MFI Soft, Vas Experts, and Protei, originally built components of Russia’s telecom wiretapping system and have now produced more advanced surveillance tools for the country’s intelligence services. The tools range from software that can track activity on encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Signal, to monitoring phone locations, identifying anonymous social media users, and breaking into people’s accounts. The combination of these technologies and other Russian efforts to shape public opinion and stifle dissent make for an off-the-shelf toolkit for autocratic governments seeking to control online activity.
The Russian authorities are incubating a new cohort of companies that have sprung up as a result of their repressive interests, said Adrian Shahbaz, a vice president of research and analysis at Freedom House, a pro-democracy advocacy group. The implications of these surveillance technologies will first be felt in the surrounding region, and potentially spread worldwide.
Over the past two decades, Russian leaders have struggled to control the internet and have ordered systems to eavesdrop on phone calls and store records of all internet traffic. However, these systems were imperfect and unreliable. After the invasion of Ukraine, demand for surveillance tools increased, and Russian authorities turned to local tech companies that built the original systems. This push has benefitted companies like Citadel, which now owns many of Russia’s biggest makers of digital wiretapping equipment and controls a significant portion of the market for telecommunications monitoring technology.
The new technologies give Russia’s security services a detailed view of the internet and have introduced a “killer combo” of data collection and surveillance capabilities, according to researchers. These tools provide the authorities with access to metadata on encrypted messaging apps, allowing them to identify who is communicating with whom and when, providing valuable information without directly intercepting messages.
While these surveillance efforts may be effective in suppressing dissent and controlling public opinion for now, concerns remain about the expansion of these technologies overseas and the long-term consequences for global online freedom.