Moscow, Russia. The Ukrainians recently shut down a wide spectrum of Russian internet businesses, websites, and service providers, but now Russia is taking the matter shopping for the venue most likely to spank the Ukraine the hardest.
Russia has sent a request to the World Trade Organisation asking to hold consultations over Ukraine’s sanctions against Moscow. Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin has also requested review of Ukraine’s attack on the internet businesses and service providers Ukraine has just banned.
Representatives of the European Union said that the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to block Russian social networks and Internet resources is the prerogative of the Ukrainian authorities, but the arguments for national information security are insufficient and most importantly, ” it is not in harmony with European Union standards of conduct, law or behavior that is acceptable in a candidate for membership in the EU.”
He added that the request was regarding restrictions on Russian goods, services, transit and other issues imposed by Ukraine in response to Russia’s role in the Ukraine crisis, the reports said.
The European Union is aware of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to block a number of Russian online services, including popular social media platforms in Ukraine, within the limits of restrictive measures taken by Ukraine, Head of Press and Communication at the EU Delegation in Ukraine Jurgis Vilcinskas said.
“There are serious grounds to believe that by all these measures taken, Ukraine is violating its obligations towards WTO,” Oreshkin said, according to Russian news agencies.
This week, Ukraine imposed economic restrictions on Russia’s largest internet group Yandex and other popular online firms, saying it wanted to guard against cyber threats.