In what has been called the Cold War 2.0. between Russia and the United States a new chapter is added: Moscow is in fact ready to oust from government institutions most of the software and technological devices produced by American companies.
And the first Western corporation to pay the price could be Microsoft. In fact, the Kremlin would be ready to eliminate Outlook from about 600 thousand government computers. A decision that, if it will be really implemented, risks to compromise Redmond’s economic interests in Russia. The office platform of the Californian company will begin to be replaced by MyMail, a software produced by a Russian company. The move actually had been in the air for some time, since exactly when the Soviet government decided to push the domestic market. In 2015, in fact, the Kremlin passed a law that obliges institutions to buy products from local companies.
The new law in favor of Russian hi-tech
The former Soviet government is increasingly convinced to focus on made in Russia, as confirmed by the measure that came into force in January 2016. However, the law constrains the public sector to rely on domestic solutions only if there are alternatives to software and devices made by external companies. State organizations can continue to buy programs and services produced by non-Russian vendors. In fact, although the Russian hi-tech market is growing – mainly due to the Kremlin’s efforts – there are still no good choices with which to replace foreign software. This means that in the short term the interests of the big American giants will not be affected, as also evidenced by the $21 million agreement between Microsoft and the state-owned company Rostelecom.
Economic, but above all political interests
Behind these measures there is another reason. There are in fact mainly political interests that in recent years have pushed Russia to break away from Western technology. In what has become a technological war – as evidenced by the constant hacking attacks that the two countries claim to have suffered from the other – Russia fears that “foreign” technology could help the Western bloc infiltrate its computer systems. Hence the need for change. A few months ago, for example, the Finnish company Jolla Sailfish announced that the Kremlin would replace American operating systems with Sailfish, the OS Nokia wanted to use to challenge Android.