Oleg Shakirov Profile picture
Tweets about international relations & diplomacy, Russian foreign policy, arms control, cyber policy. I have fewer followers in real life
Nov 19, 2024 11 tweets 4 min read
Putin signed the updated version of the basic principles of nuclear deterrence



Thread with big and small changes in RU with my comments

1/publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/00012… The document expands the scope of states whom Russia seeks to deter. In addition to states with nukes and other WMD nuclear deterrence is now also aimed at states that provide land, air, sea & resources under their control for preparing and carrying out aggression against RU

2/ Image
Nov 11, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
Came across a story that illustrates the tension in the USSR between smuggling computers & maintaining security. Translation in ALT, short summary below

In 1984, Lithuania was planning to import a Siemens 7536 computer — apparently, in some shady way — to be used at Gosplan We also pay attention to the prevention of possible technical penetration of the enemy into our secrets using imported equipment. Thus, we received a signal from the agent "Vilnius" […] that [Siemens] had known long in advance about the plans to install and use the imported Siemens 7536 computer at the [research institute of Lithuanian Gosplan]. The machine was assembled by foreign specialists. According to the contract, the firm will perform warranty repair service […] on their own.  In view the above, to prevent possible interception of aggregated secret data on the economic pot... The Lithuanian KGB learned from its agent nicknamed
(sic!) "Vilnius" that Siemens, a West German firm, knew long in advance where this computer would be installed & operated. Not only did the Germans assemble it, under the contract they would independently repair it
Nov 6, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Russia officially withdrew from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty on midnight of Nov 7 (Moscow time apparently)

Here's a statement from @mfa_russia describing the history of CFE and key lessons learned by Russia

mid.ru/ru/foreign_pol…
Image Parity Lost...

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Oct 31, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read
New cyber conflict-related criminal cases in Russia. Two men were separately arrested by the FSB in Tomsk & Kemerovo Oblast for their involvement w/ Ukrainian hackers. Notably both were charged with state treason (article 275) rather than computer crimes

kommersant.ru/doc/6311348 AFAIK, these are the 4th & 5th cases

Previously, 3 men were separately sentenced to 2-3 years & fines for participating in DDoS attacks launched by pro-Ukrainian hackers early in the war. Each was convicted for unlawful interference with critical infrastructure (article 274.1)
Jun 19, 2023 19 tweets 5 min read
Recently, a Western colleague raised a question, with some skepticism: "Are there really any significant cyber incidents in Russia? Not defacements or websites taken down for a day or two"

It's hard to overstate how different the situation has been since the start of the war I wouldn't say that nothing was happening before, but as far as publicly known incidents are concerned they weren't plenty

Now, almost every other day there's a data breach or some kind of attack that would have deserved nation-wide coverage before; now everyone got used to them
Mar 31, 2023 8 tweets 3 min read
Short thread on cyber issues in Russia's updated Foreign Policy Concept

mid.ru/en/foreign_pol… Probably the most remarkable change is in para 26: an explicit mention that in the event of an unfriendly acts by foreign states or their groups including the use of modern ICT Russia would consider it lawful to respond in symmetrical or asymmetrical manner Image
Mar 31, 2023 4 tweets 2 min read
Looks like the new edition of Russia's Foreign Policy Concept is about to be released. It was in the making for a couple of years. In January 2022, right before the war, it was discussed in the Security Council and but was returned for further revision

rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/64… 2023 Concept of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation

publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/…
Mar 10, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
What could possibly go wrong? Get ready for Russian propaganda squeezing every drop from this story, starting tomorrow
Mar 9, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
Some splinternet (?) news from Russia. Thread Due to foreign registrars like Namecheap refusing service to Russian users, the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ recommends that administrators of domains in the .RU or .РФ zones that use foreign hosting move to hosting and registrars based in Russia

cctld.ru/media/news/kc/…
Mar 6, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
Claims that Russia is disconnecting from the Internet are inaccurate (for now)

After cyber attacks, the Ministry of Digital wants all gov't website to switch to Russian domestic DNS, stop using foreign hosting, web analytic tools, etc.

See this kommersant.ru/doc/5249500 Also this meduza.io/feature/2022/0…
Mar 5, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
It's weird seing people being excited about this news. This will hurt regular Russians, primarily those who have already relocated abroad or plan to do so Even worse: "With this action, cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by the Mastercard network."

mastercard.com/news/press/202…
Mar 3, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
Many young Russians are horrified by what's happening. It feels like there's no future. Some are leaving for abroad or seriously considering it. Others are silent. Some, especially foreign policy types, try to rationalize this. In my bubble, I've seen only few cheerleaders of war Cheeleaders (of all ages) uncritically repeat propaganda talking points to counter any anti-war statements. Today one former diplomat accused me of state treason for pointing out that it's actually a war, not a surgical operation (as promised a week ago) and a tragic mistake
Mar 1, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
On Facebook, users in Russia are bombarded with anti-war ads. Few are from legit pages, but most are from newly created anonymous pages. Messages vary from emphasis on war destruction to encouragement for bank run

Here, I'll be tracking them docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d… Some ads impersonate real Russian media (RBC, Russia TV channel) to appear more credible. These also post false or potentially harmful information, I reported a couple of posts. Ads featuring casualty figures are also impossible to verify

But most are just anti-war appeals
Jan 14, 2022 10 tweets 5 min read
❗️Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) conducted a special operation against REvil at the request of the United States

interfax.ru/russia/815466 Original FSB press-release fsb.ru/fsb/press/mess…
Apr 10, 2021 10 tweets 5 min read
It's not often that the Vienna Document para 16 is invoked, which happened today in the OSCE, so let's do a recap

Thread 1/10 Per para 16, states "consult and co-operate with each other about any unusual and unscheduled activities of their military forces outside their normal peacetime locations which are militarily significant [...] about which a participating State expresses its security concern" 2/10
Oct 11, 2019 14 tweets 7 min read
Yesterday, Russia adopted its National AI Strategy until 2030

It's only available in Russian, see below for some notes on what's in the document AI is "a complex of technological solutions to simulate human cognitive functions (incl self-study & searching for solutions without a predetermined algorithm) & to obtain results that are comparable, at a min, with the results of specific tasks of human intellectual activity"