MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The information space has become a new theater of military operations as more than 120 countries are developing information weapons, the Russian General Staff said Wednesday.
"The information space has become a new theater of military operations as the armies of practically all countries in the world have set up structures intended for action in the information sphere. It is a common knowledge that more than 120 countries are developing information weapons," deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Maj. Gen. Igor Dylevsky, said at the Moscow Conference on International Security.
According to Dylevsky, information technologies are more frequently used for aggressive purposes and could destabilize the situation in any country, even in the most developed one.
"Information technologies could even ignite a military conflict between sovereign states," the general added.
Attacks on objects of information sphere with the use of real weapons or IT-technologies could be qualified as violation of the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of a targeted state, the Russian General Staff said Wednesday.
"Destructive impact on information objects can be carried out both with the use of traditional weapons and with the use of information technologies, which, in our opinion, can be qualified as a violation of the sovereignty, territorial inviolability or political independence of another state, that is, as aggression," Dylevsky said.
He said the United Nations should expand its list of act of aggression stipulated by UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974) to include information warfare attacks that have led to serious human casualties and destruction of infrastructure.
