Akademik

   Russia’s first connections to the Internet occurred during the Soviet era. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ability of average Russians to access cyberspace increased at a modest rate until the end of the 1990s. During this period, the concept of Runet evolved, which refers to the Russian language portions of cyberspace. Initially, Russophones outside of the Russian Federation dominated this space; however, this changed dramatically with the economic recovery that followed the 1998 ruble crisis. The Internet now figures prominently in Russian culture, the national economy, and the media environment. Both Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvyedev have made the promotion and regulation of the Internet in Russia part of their respective presidential administrations.