Russian President Vladimir Putin is known for being headstrong. And recently, he has signed a pair of bills. In the bill he made it mandatory that all consumer electronic devices sold in the country will be pre-installed with Russian software. And he also made sure that all individual journalists will register as foreign agents.
It is a good news for Russian IT firms who were having a hard time in the Russian phone market. Even the Government officials say the law will help Russian IT firms compete with foreign companies. And increase the chances of profit for them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a joint video conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday. In this conference he will let the Chinese President know what is required of him. A list will be created, and it will contain the Russian Applications that would be installed on smartphones and computers.
The other bill signed will become Another law.
According to this law, the government gives the right to register bloggers, journalists and social media users as foreign agents. It is broadly an extension of an existing law adopted in response to the U.S. Justice Department’s 2017 decision to label the Russian state-funded network RT as a foreign agent.
According to this law anyone who distributes content produced by media outlets registered as foreign agents and receives payments from abroad will be under the scrutiny of the government. This law restricts the freedom of expression and speech of the journalists and reporters. That is why the law is being criticised by many Russians. And people are going against authorities and creating dissent.
