Post #1160

Ambassador Albert P. Khorev's article "Double-Edged Sword"(April 6, 2025) Key points: 🔸️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 has become a powerful tool for education and knowledge sharing, giving businesses access to global markets and helping to create new jobs. However, as IT evolves, so does the number of crimes committed through its use, such as hacking, identity theft, and digital fraud; 🔸️Legislation has an important role to play in addressing these threats and should be based on carefully designed collective intergovernmental solutions; 🔸️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; 🔸️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; 🔸️Another important factor is the misuse of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for military and political purposes; 🔸️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; 🔸️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. 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. Read in full