Putin: Russia seeking cyber security, not Internet 'kill switch'

MOSCOW, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday a sharp rise in Internet cyber attacks in Russia was noted since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

He told a meeting of his Security Council there are no plans to restrict Internet access in Russia but called for "a range of additional measures in the area of information security."

His comments came after the independent Russian business newspaper Vedomosti quoted unidentified sources who claimed, "Russian Internet service providers will be required to make it possible to shut off Russia's Internet access to the global Internet" in the event of "military actions" or "serious protest actions."

Putin denied the details of the Vedomosti story, but noted he was angered by revelations from the U.S. National Security Agency, and by American political leaders who have suggested Internet surveillance is legal if social network servers are on U.S. soil.

"We see that certain countries are trying to use their dominating position in the global information space to achieve not only economic, but also military and political goals," Putin said.

Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev noted after the meeting Russia was hit by 57 million cyber attacks in the first half of 2014, up from 3.3 million in all of 2010.