Russia has suffered many international blows since it invaded Ukraine in late February, including sanctions, cyberattacks, and other measures designed to deter Russia from continuing the conflict. On Friday, US internet infrastructure company Cogent Communications reported that it is ending its relationships with its Russian customers. This includes the state-owned Russian telecoms Rostelecom and TransTelekom. Although the global internet is interdependent and Russia has other backbone providers to lean on, Cogent is one of the biggest.
Cogent stated that it had determined that the risk was some Russian citizens will lose global connectivity versus the possibility that the Russian government will benefit from Cogent’s service and use it to perpetrate disinformation campaigns and hack Ukrainian targets. Cogent reaffirmed that its goal was to not empower the Russian government with another tool that could be used to commit crimes or persecute Ukrainians.
Read More: A Major Internet Backbone Company Cuts Off Russia
