Got the Picture: Kiev Says Complete Ban on Russian Social Networks Impossible

KIEV (Sputnik) – It is impossible to completely block the Russian social networks in Ukraine, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration Dmitry Shimkiv said on Monday, adding that the reduction of the networks’ audience would be an achievement for the Ukrainian authorities.

"It is really impossible to ban [Russian social network] completely, that is a fact. The blocking systems exist at the level of url, very primitive and easy, at the level of dns. There is an issue of analyzing the traffic that is more difficult … One can reduce the audience of VKontakte with the help of url, dns and traffic management," Shimkiv said, as quoted by the 112 Ukraina broadcaster.

He pointed out that it would be an "achievement" for the Ukrainian authorities to reduce the audience of the Russian social networks.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko approved the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to expand the list of sanctioned Russian individuals and legal entities. In particular, Ukraine has imposed sanctions on a number of Russian media, popular social networks like VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. According to Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Internet Association (UIA) Alexander Fedyenko, Ukraine will need $1 billion and about two years to block the websites.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the same day that Moscow regarded Kiev's decision to expand sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities as another manifestation of an unfriendly and short-sighted policy against Russia.