Russia preparing to ban Microsoft
At the “Internet after Globality” conference, Herman Klimenko, advisor to the Russian president on matters related to the Internet, said that Microsoft “may be asked” to leave Russia, RBC news agency reports.
“I hope that we will be proud of those projects where we are doing really well - in artificial intelligence, neural networks, etc. It is clear that in today’s fragmented world, when Kaspersky is asked to leave America, and we are likely to ask Microsoft to leave us, it will be amusing to observe this,” Klimenko said.
“Everyone has someone to kick out,” he said.
In September 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered all U.S. government agencies to stop using products made by Kaspersky Lab. The country’s authorities believe that the software could be used by the Russian secret service to gain access to government documents. The Russian company said that there is no basis for these accusations.
State agencies in Russia are currently allowed to use products from Microsoft and other foreign companies. However, when purchasing products, government agencies must follow, in order (if it is not proven that there is no Russian equivalent), products included in the Unified Register of Domestic Software.