Lumen, a second major American Internet carrier, pulling out of Russia

3 yıl önce

Lumen, a leading American Internet provider to Russia, announced Tuesday that it was severing business relations in the country, a move likely to increase Russia’s isolation as its citizens slip behind what some analysts are calling a new digital Iron Curtain.

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Lumen became the second top carrier to make such a move in recent days, following Friday’s announcement by Cogent Communications. Taken together these moves are likely to make it harder for Russians to gain access to international services, such as news sites and social media based in the West, said telecommunications experts. Access to internal networks within Russia would not be affected.

American technology and telecommunications companies have been cutting services in Russia ever since it invaded Ukraine last month. In the same period, Russia’s government has throttled or blocked popular U.S.-based services such as Twitter and Facebook while imposing new criminal penalties for news coverage that doesn’t follow the Kremlin’s strict censorship policies. Many leading Western news organizations have ceased operations there, further weakening the flow of information from the country that’s being roiled by punishing international sanctions.

A new iron curtain is descending across Russia’s Internet

Lumen said in a statement posted to its website, “We decided to disconnect the network due to increased security risk inside Russia. We have not yet experienced network disruptions, but given the increasingly uncertain environment and the heightened risk of state action, we took this move to ensure the security of our and our customers’ networks, as well as the ongoing integrity of the global Internet.”

The company tried to downplay its importance to the Russian market, saying, "The business services we provide are extremely small and very limited as is our physical presence. However, we are taking steps to immediately stop business in the region.”

But telecommunications analysts said it is one of Russia’s top sources of data from international sources. The company’s customers include some of Russia’s biggest providers of Internet to companies and customers based there, including the nation’s state-owned telecommunications companies, Rostelecom and TransTelekom.

With Cogent and Lumen leaving, the remaining top five sources of international data are Western companies based in Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom, according to an analysis by Internet monitoring firm Kentik.

“We’re in uncharted territory here,” said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Kentik. “This is going to add up. It would be noticeable, I think.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.