"The internet gained centrality as a space of public opinion and political activity that became important for the Russian state to co-opt and control as part of the broader push for control of political elites and public perceptions as Putin and his ruling party pushed to eliminate any functioning opposition and cement their power. Finally, the internet gained importance as a geopolitical strategic object, given its centrality to conflicts, cyberwarfare and foreign policy operations. In the current and ongoing stage, the internet is now also an important object of critical technological infrastructure that is now also being co-opted into full state control as part of the national security and sovereignty agenda.The past decade since 2012 has seen a gradual takeover by the state of key industry players such as VK and Yandex, a crackdown on political and media elites and ordinary users, and the introduction of a swathe of new regulations, all aimed at consolidating state control over an area of importance for the national security and sovereignty agenda. Today, digital authoritarianism is an integral part of Russia’s state survival strategy and is likely to remain as such for the foreseeable future, given Russia’s current international isolation and its fraught and increasingly hostile standoff with the democratic global community." (Analysis and conclusion, p.25)