MOSCOW, April 25 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the Internet is an American "CIA project" and remains under their control.
He warned Russians that they should cease using Google and other U.S.-based search engines. He even said that Russia should consider creating their own version of the Internet to avoid any online channels from the U.S.
These remarks come at a time when the Russian Duma passed a law requiring all social media websites to archive data on their users for at least 6 months. Pavel Durov, founder of the Russian social media website VKontakte, was fired this week and replaced by a businessman with ties to Putin, and the website, he claimed, was under Kremlin control.
One of the "fathers of the Internet" Vincent Cerf who helped create the technological marvel said the U.S. may have controlled the Internet when he was running it 40 years ago, but no longer.
