Russia and the United States have put forward a joint resolution to the United Nations General Assembly on responsible state behavior in cyberspace. More than 50 UN member States joined the document as co-authors.
In the document, the countries indicated joining efforts in developing rules or mandatory norms of responsible behavior of states in cyberspace.
Previously, the rules of online behavior in the UN were developed in two groups — in the Group of Governmental Experts recreated by the United States (GGE, 25 countries) and the Open-ended Working Group launched on the initiative of Russia (OEWG). Russia and the United States are part of both groups, but Moscow promoted the OEWG, and Washington supported the GGE. Thus, countries acted as rivals in cyber issues. Last week, the delegations of Russia and the United States presented a draft resolution during informal consultations at the UN. Now the work on the rules will continue in one format — the OEWG.
Andrei Krutskikh, Russian presidential special envoy for international cooperation on information security and director of the Foreign Ministry's International Security Department, presenting the resolution at a meeting at the UN, said that it was a “historic moment.”
The resolution notes that all States are interested in promoting the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for peaceful purposes, as well as in preventing conflicts arising from their use. It states that a number of States are engaged in building ICT capacity for military purposes, and the use of ICT in future conflicts is becoming increasingly likely. Potential ICT-related malicious acts targeting critical infrastructure are of particular concern.
In Russia, according to the federal law adopted in 2017, 13 sectors of the economy are classified as critical infrastructure, including the banking sector, defense industry enterprises, transport facilities, healthcare, and others.
