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THREATS TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN IRAN CONFLICT

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How the Kremlin is embedding Russian technology around the world

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Arctic Warrior Event Center in Alaska, August 15, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

By Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan

In late April 2024, Nikolai Patrushev, the longtime head of Russia’s Security Council, chaired a meeting in St. Petersburg of top security officials from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

The meeting was about information sovereignty and security—the Kremlin’s way of describing cybertechnologies that are designed to protect against Western surveillance, influence, and interference. But Patrushev also had a more specific message.

Flanked by Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the Kremlin’s SVR Foreign Intelligence Service, Patrushev informed the audience that Russia’s top cybersecurity companies could help their governments gain control of their national information space.

Read more at Foreign Affairs

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