Kyiv announced its plans to abandon Russian software
Deputies from the Kyiv City Council supported a resolution to prohibit the use of Russian software, as indicated on the Council’s website.
According to official information, the draft is aimed at providing cybersecurity measures. The City Council stated that the document specifies banning telecommunications equipment and software that Russian companies have developed and produced.
The message also stated that the ban will extend to executive and local self-government authorities, as well as to municipal enterprises, institutions and organizations. In addition, it is proposed to prohibit the use of software created by the "aggressor country for purchases," the website of the City Council notes. According to the draft decision, in 2017 the City Council plans to develop and introduce its own software products, which will be used by local authorities and utilities.
"We plan to undertake a complete changeover and create our own software. The cost of adopting a new program will be even less than its annual maintenance," the message says.
In late April, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported the exposure of a Kyiv-based business which illegally sold the Russian 1C Company’s software products in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
In the opinion of the SBU, the Russian special services conducted "hidden surveillance" of the situation in the public and private sectors of the Ukrainian economy through these programs, as well as those of the enterprises in the so-called LPR and DPR.