Russian envoy points out success of UN resolution on cybersecurity

Andrei Krutskikh

UNITED NATIONS, December 16. /TASS/: More members of UN General Assembly have voted in favor of the Russian-led resolution on cybersecurity in 2019 than during the previous year, Russian Special Presidential Representative for International Information Security Cooperation Andrei Krutskikh told TASS on Monday. The resolution dubbed Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security was approved by the UN General Assembly earlier.

"The outcomes of the vote on our resolution regarding an open-ended working group on international cybersecurity can be considered the latest success of Russian diplomacy," he informed. "There are 129 votes in favor of the resolution, which is more than last year."

"It has been proven that the Russian concept of promoting and ensuring information and communications security is gaining more support, gaining momentum," the Russian diplomat said. "This is a great success," he stated.

"Western partners that voted against [the resolution] last year essentially chose to demonstratively abstain this year," the envoy noted. "This is a signal both for Washington and Russia: they understand that the Russian resolution is pragmatic and that it is calls for active involvement in the discussion of ensuring international cybersecurity," Krutskikh explained.

During the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, the US presented its own draft resolution on cybersecurity, which contained similar ideas to the Russian document that has been presented to the UN General Assembly for the last two years. The US resolution has also been approved during the vote.

"In essence, this document repeats the Russian idea on launching an open-ended working group. However, the US decided to "keep Russia company" and offer something of their own, however, it mirrored the Russian idea and the project of our group," he said. "Many countries chose not to put the Russian resolution against the American one, having voted in favor of the US resolution at the same time," he noted.