Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister calls to disconnect Russia from the internet? Here comes ICANN President's reply!
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Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister calls to disconnect Russia from the internet? Here comes ICANN President's reply!
Reports suggest that Russia has conducted multiple test drills on its national internet, Runet, and may be preparing to disconnect from the global internet.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsOriginal: Xuanba
Recently, international tech giants including Oracle, SAP, Apple, and Google have begun suspending all services in Russia, rendering the idea of "technology without borders" a thing of the past.
There are also reports that Russia has conducted multiple test drills on its domestic internet network Runet and may be preparing to disconnect from the global internet.
The idea of disconnecting the internet is no rumor. A few days ago, Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, requested the revocation of Russia’s top-level domains (TLDs) and associated Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, aiming to disable Russian propaganda machinery and prevent further disinformation campaigns. Fedorov also asked RIPE NCC—the regional internet registry for Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia—to revoke Russia's and its local internet registries’ (LIRs) rights to use allocated IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and block access to DNS root servers.
In response, the President and CEO of ICANN wrote a dedicated letter. As it happens, I teach computer networking and previously worked at CNNIC, which manages China’s .cn national domain, so I took the opportunity to translate the English letter into Chinese—offering some public education about the “heart of the internet.”
Below is the letter from ICANN's President and CEO
Chinese Translation of the Letter
Dear Deputy Prime Minister:
I am writing in response to your letter received on February 28, 2022. First, let me express my personal concern for the welfare of citizens affected by this conflict. ICANN and our global community are aware of and deeply troubled by the terrible losses your country is suffering.
You have requested that ICANN restrict internet access in Russia by revoking specific country-code top-level domains operating within Russia, arranging for the revocation of SSL certificates issued under these domains, and shutting down root servers located in Russia.
ICANN is an independent technical organization responsible for managing the internet's unique identifiers. ICANN promotes the security, stability, and resiliency of these identifiers with the goal of maintaining a single, global, interoperable internet. As the technical coordinator of the internet’s unique identifiers, we act to ensure that the operation of the internet is not politicized, and we do not have the authority to impose sanctions. At its core, ICANN was created to ensure the internet functions properly—not to use its coordinating role to stop it from functioning.
As you know, the internet is a decentralized system, and no single participant has the ability to control or shut it down. Through the functions of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), ICANN’s primary responsibility is to ensure consistent and unique allocation of internet identifiers in accordance with globally agreed policies. These policies are developed by a multistakeholder community—including technical experts, businesses, academics, civil society, governments, and other stakeholders—who work collaboratively through consensus to address policy and technical challenges. This model has enabled the internet to thrive for decades. This broad and inclusive decision-making process serves the global public interest and makes the internet resilient against unilateral decisions.
Let me respond specifically to your request from both technical and policy perspectives:
Regarding country-code top-level domains, our role primarily involves verifying requests from authorized entities within the respective country or territory. The globally agreed policies do not provide ICANN with the authority to unilaterally disconnect these domains as per your request. You can understand why such a system cannot operate based on requests from one region or country regarding the internal operations of another. Such changes would have devastating and permanent effects on trust in and the utility of this global system.
The root server system consists of numerous geographically distributed nodes maintained by multiple independent operators.
We cannot revoke the specific SSL certificates you mentioned. These certificates are issued by third-party operators, and ICANN does not participate in their issuance.
As you noted in your letter, you wish to help users find reliable information in alternative domains and prevent propaganda and disinformation. Only through widespread and unhindered internet access can citizens obtain reliable information and diverse viewpoints. Regardless of origin, ICANN does not control internet access or content.
In carrying out our mission, we remain neutral and take action to support the global internet. No matter how provocative the circumstances, our mission does not include taking punitive actions, imposing sanctions, or restricting access to parts of the internet. ICANN consistently follows its policies and procedural documents. Unilateral changes would undermine trust in the multistakeholder model and the policies designed to maintain global internet interoperability.
ICANN stands ready to continue supporting the security, stability, and resiliency of Ukraine and the global internet.
Göran Marby
President and Chief Executive Officer
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
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