Putin Supports Project to ‘Secure’ Russia Internet

President Vladimir V. Putin appeared to throw his support behind a plan to isolate the Internet in Russia from the rest of the World Wide Web, but said the Russian government was “not even considering” censoring Internet sites.

In a speech to the Russian National Security Council, Putin said the plan was intended to build a backup system to keep websites in the Russian domains -- those ending in .ru and .rf -- online in a national emergency. Putin said other countries had taken to using the Internet “for not only economic, but military and political goals” and said information security was a priority for the country.