MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2020) Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer to revive Russian-US cooperation in international information security (IIS) is a positive first step to achieve some rapprochement of historically strained ties, but technically-wise the idea might be difficult to realize, experts told Sputnik.
On Friday, the Russian leader invited the US to adopt a large-scale program to reboot cooperation in international information security. Putin called for a continuous and effective functioning of the communication channels between competent agencies through Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers, Computer Emergency Readiness Teams and high-level officials in charge of IIS.
According to Putin, the two countries should work out a treaty to prevent cybersecurity incidents, similar to the 1972 US-Soviet Incidents at Sea agreement. The president also suggested that Russia and the US exchange pledges on non-interference in elections and other internal affairs of each other, be it via digital tools or in any other way.
Even if Moscow and Washington find common ground on information security, it is hard for state agencies to control and regulate cyberspace as provocations originating from third countries may occur, Paul Poast, an assistant professor in the department of political science at the University of Chicago, told Sputnik.
"This is a very interesting proposal by Putin. However, I am skeptical that it will work ... Instead, I believe it will be perceived as a mere 'scrap of paper', largely because it is relatively easy to hide the source of cyberattacks. This is also what will differentiate it from the 1972 incidents at Sea Treaty: those incidents are nearly impossible to hide," Poast said.
Non-aggression pacts "do not tie the hands of states," but instead are designed to inform the public that the countries have settled their differences, the expert noted.
In order to ensure that a pledge of non-interference is in fact complied with, Russia and the US have to agree on some kind of verifying mechanisms, Thomas Whalen, an Associate Professor with the Boston University's Social Science Department, told Sputnik.
"I would say at this stage a mutual pledge of noninterference in each other's elections would be a good first step in improving relations between the two powers ... Whether it will occur to is another matter. As [former US] President Ronald Reagan once famously said, 'Trust, but verify.' Pledges in our new Information Age are worthless unless there is a means to verify their underlying validity. That is unlikely to occur right now," Whalen said.
Apart from the technical issues, it is also the upcoming presidential election in the US which may become an obstacle on the path to solidify the ISS pact, Erika Simpson, the president of the Canadian Peace Research Association and the professor with the University of Western Ontario, told Sputnik.
"I do not know whether Washington will agree as [US President Donald] Trump is so unpredictable and focused on his own election prospects that I do not trust his word on anything he promises before the election," Simpson concluded.
