INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SECURITY AS AN IMPORTANT COURSE OF THE SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION ACTIVITIES: 2006-2017

Abstract

The article deals with researches of the SCO's activities in the area of international information security and analysis of the legislative initiatives of the Russian Federation as a member country of the SCO in the historical retrospective.

The resource base of the article is the official documents posted on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization web site (https://rus.sectsco.org/), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (https: // www.mid.ru) and other web sites of member countries of organization.

The article is based on the problematic-chronological  principle.

It was determined that the cooperation of the SCOʼs member countries in the area of information security de facto began on June 16, 2009 by signing the Yekaterinburg Declaration of cooperation in information security providing. According to paragraph 7 of this document, the relevance of international information security providing is identified as an important element of the overall international security system.

The Russian Federation's initiatives in the area of international information security were continued in Yekaterinburg (September 2011). The Russian experts presented a draft concept of the IIB Collaboration Convention as an alternative to the 2001 Budapest Council of Europe Convention concerning cybercrime.

On September 12, 2011 United Nations Permanent Representatives of Russia, China,Tajikistan and Uzbekistan sent a joint letter to UN Secretary General with a request to extend the draft «Rules of Conduct in the Field of International Information Security" adopted at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Astana on June 2011 as an official document of the United Nations General Assembly. The main task of the Rules» was to develop a code of responsible behavior of countries in the international information security, taking into account military-political, criminal and terrorist challenges and threats.

However, due to discrepancies in terms of terminology and models of international information security between the Russian Federation and Western countries, the document was not adopted until present. One of the document provisions is the prohibition – «to use ICT and information and communication networks for interference in the internal affairs of other countries with purpose to undermine their political, economic and social stability».

The author concludes that Russia plays a dominant role in the field of international information security within the framework of the SCO, which promotes the name of this regional organization of legislative initiatives related to its national interests. The development of draft international legal documents concerning international information security is carried out by powerful research organizations and institutions of the Russian Federation and, on some issues, duplicates Russian doctrinal documents.

In further research, the author is going to consider the historical process of creating national information security systems in the countries of the Central Asian region - the republics of the former USSR - and to analyze the content of information campaigns conducted by the Russian Federation in these countries.