The Russification of Crimea’s Internet Begins With The Kerch Strait Cable

In late July, plans for an undersea fiber optic cable stretching from Russia to the newly-annexed Crimea were realized. Since Crimea’s secession from Ukraine, news of Internet disruptions in the region has surfaced several times. In early March, Ukraine’s previously state-owned, newly-privatized ISP, Ukrtelecom, reported suspicious interruptions in Crimea. The company’s offices were seized by unknown forces, and Crimea was cut off from the rest of the country’s connections. These lapses in connectivity lasted a short few hours before being restored. Later that month, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev issued impassioned calls for telecommunications provider Rostelecom to extend its services to the newly-annexed Crimea. He claimed such a move would fall in line with Russia's attempt to integrate Crimea into the rest of the country. His calls were part of a symbolic campaign to “Russify” Crimea’s citizens, who would also, for example, be issued Russian passports during this period of change. Earlier that month, the electorate of what was formerly known as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea voted to join Russia and secede from Ukraine, swiftly ushering in a period of transition from Ukrainian influence to Russian jurisdiction.

Crimea had previously been wholly dependent upon Ukraine as the supplier of its power – electricity, water, and telecommunications. Up until this point, Ukraine’s Internet has been growing rapidly. The country has over 200 domestic autonomous systems that connect to international transit (and more than 1600 domestic autonomous systems), linking Ukraine to Western European Internet markets. This flourishing heterogeneity has helped the country’s Internet emerge unscathed from both the global financial crisis of 2007 and the more recent Euromaidan protests. Renesys notes that Ukraine’s varied domestic network landscape is in stark contrast to those of other politically volatile nations, who may have more centralized domestic networks that collapse under the weight of political unrest. Syria, for example, has merely two domestic autonomous systems that are connected to international networks, making its Internet more vulnerable to a centrally-orchestrated shutdown.

The Kerch Strait, via