Information technology (IT) has become an integral part of the present-day world, fundamentally changing the way we live. While bringing great opportunities, it has also created new challenges and threats. IT helps erase geographical boundaries, thus making information accessible to millions. It has become a powerful tool for education and knowledge sharing, giving businesses access to global markets and helping to create new jobs. Telemedicine allows patients to receive remote medical consultations. Artificial intelligence is driving the development of a wide range of industries, helping to diagnose diseases and develop medicines.
However, as IT evolves, so does the number of crimes committed through its use, such as hacking, identity theft, and digital fraud. Cybercriminals seek vulnerabilities in systems to make illegal profits. Legislation has an important role to play in addressing these threats and should be based on carefully designed collective intergovernmental solutions - legally binding instruments that define in as much detail as possible the range of acts to be criminalized.
The UN Convention against Cybercrime, adopted on December 24, 2024, is a successful product of collective efforts within specialized international platforms. The development of such legally binding instruments should be inclusive, taking into account the views of all states without exception. The same principle should apply to other new technologies-related aspects, such as human control over weapons systems.
Russia believes that this issue should be addressed in the most inclusive formats possible: the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, established on the basis of the UN Inhumane Weapons Convention, and the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. These two platforms promote discussion on an equal footing. Nevertheless, we see that some states attempt to promote narrow interests within the limited-membership formats in order to later present their results to the international community as some kind of consensus product. The recent Paris Artificial Intelligence Action Summit is a fitting example in this regard.
Another important factor is the misuse of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for military and political purposes. Thus, the doctrinal documents of the United States and its allies consider Russia as one of the main threats in the information space and set the task of “strategic deterrence” of our country in this area.
In 2022, a full-scale anti-Russian campaign using ICTs for military and political purposes was launched. The territory of Ukraine became the actual springboard for a wide range of operations against Russia in the information space. Entire units of special services and military departments of NATO countries were permanently stationed in Kiev and Lvov to coordinate the digital operations of Zelensky’s illegitimate regime. More than a thousand fraudulent call centers operating in Ukraine, half of which are concentrated in the city of Dnipropetrovsk (new name - Dnipro), are used to carry out anti-Russian activities. In total, more than 100 thousand people are involved in this criminal scheme. The network infrastructure of these facilities is located in the Netherlands and Germany. The vast majority of fraudulent calls originating from Ukraine are directed against ordinary citizens, government agencies and Russian financial institutions.
The international community should pay particular attention to preventing the “weaponization” of the digital space and the onset of a full-blown digital arms race. It is important to focus on reducing the digital divide between countries and regions. Unequal access to IT exacerbates socio-economic inequalities both within and between countries. In this regard, close attention should be paid to monitoring the involvement of large IT corporations in the regulation of technology transfer. Unlike states, such actors often promote their own interests and contribute to maintaining and widening the technological gap between developed and developing countries. Russia has consistently advocated on international platforms for equal access to digital technologies for all states.
Information technology is a powerful tool that requires proper handling. The global community must learn to use this “double-edged sword” wisely, in order to maximize its benefits while preventing the development of harmful trends associated with technological progress as a result of the unscrupulousness of certain actors.
The writer is Ambassador of Russia to Pakistan.