14ymedio, Madrid, 7 February 2022 — Russia will have a digital attaché in Havana to promote its information and communication technologies in Cuba, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko speaking on Monday.
The Island will not be the only one to welcome one of these envoys; up to 16 countries that will do so, including Brazil, Malaysia and Vietnam. The rest are considered candidates such as Germany, South Korea, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Singapore, the South African Republic, Thailand and Turkey.
“According to our forecasts, the ’digital aggregates’ will begin to work this year in 16 countries,” said the senior official, as published today by the Russian agency Sputnik. The position is newly created and is one of the novelties created by the Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Fund for the Development of Information Technologies within a package of measures to support the area.
The goal of these digital ambassadors is “to encourage exports of digital solutions from Russia,” Chernyshenko added. But, in addition, they will help national companies in the technology sector with information, analysis, legal support and advice in the countries where they are posted.
According to the Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Maxim Parshin, “the digital attachés must be well oriented in Russian and foreign software, understand the competitive advantages of domestic products and know Russian and international laws in the commercial field.”
According to analysts, Russia is one of the countries that has most highly developed the strategy of hybrid wars, which include disinformation and cyber attacks to guarantee an advantage and generate opinions.
In recent years, Russia has been accused of interfering in some democratic processes, including the 2016 US presidential elections. Russia also appears behind cyber attacks and has developed the Internet Research Agency (IRA) to flood social networks through use of bots and trolls.
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