No plans to ban Internet in Russia

There are no plans to ban the Internet in Russia, presidential aide Igor Shchegolev said on Friday.
By regulating the Internet national segments all principles of the democratic state will be observed, he said.
Rumours saying the authorities are ready to switch off the Internet “do not correspond to reality. On the contrary, they run counter to it,” Shchegolev said.
“We’re not going to impose a ban on the Internet. The major and first task is to make its work uninterruptable,” he said.
“The process for changing control over virtual space should be consistent, transparent and meet the people’s needs,” Shchegolev said.
“As a democratic state we’ll strictly observe the freedom of mass media and the right of citizens to getting and spreading information,” he said.
The RuNet itself should become a more significant factor for growing the Russian economy and increasing the quality of education and culture so that Russia transformed into a knowledge society, he said.
Shchegolev said Russia did not consider China’s experience on tough regulation of virtual space as an example. “We’re for open, fair and transparent relations, including in the Internet. Unfortunately, someone is trying to isolate us from outside. We see our task to prevent this and do our best for information resources, which are important for citizens of our country, business and the state, to continue working,” he said.