Dr Kévin Limonier, lecturer in Slavic studies and geopolitics at Paris VIII, specialist in Russian-speaking cyberspace and deputy director of Geodeexplains "how Russia is manipulating Internet routes" in order to extend its territorial control.
It's not just a question of classic cyber attacks, such as the destruction of infrastructure, but also wider cyber manoeuvres. Since 2014, with the annexation of Crimea, "Russia is the first country in the world that has thought of manipulating the architecture of the Internet for strategic and geopolitical purposes in a context of control and territorial occupation outside its borders", by disconnecting Crimea's autonomous systems from those of Ukraine, only to reconnect them with Russia.
It is therefore pursuing this strategy in Ukraine. Since February 2022 and the censorship of channels not aligned with the position of the Russian regime, these appropriations of the networks are beginning to have a concrete effect on the population: "If you are today in a territory occupied by the Russian army, you are in fact placed on the other side of the large digital border posts that the Russians are building to filter absolutely everything that enters and leaves their networks". But this digital battle is also a priority for Ukraine: when Kherson was liberated, engineers immediately came to re-route the Internet network to Kiev.
