Lumen, a US firm that provides essential internet services, says it’s pulling out of Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s the second major company of its kind to do so in less than a week, following a similar announcement from rival Cogent last Friday, and is the latest example of a ‘digital Iron Curtain’ growing between Russia and the West.
In a blog post, Lumen said it was shutting down all business in Russia “due to increased security risk” in the country.
“We have not yet experienced network disruptions, but given the increasingly uncertain environment and the heightened risk of state action, we took this move to ensure the security of our and our customers’ networks, as well as the ongoing integrity of the global Internet,” said Lumen.
The firm downplayed the impact of this move, emphasizing that it has no consumer customers in Russia, and that the business services it provides there “are extremely small.”
This statement does not seem to fully reflect the scope of Lumen’s business, though. Network analyst firm Kentik says Lumen is “the top international transit provider to Russia.” and that its customers include the country’s biggest telecoms firm, Rostelecom; the major broadband provider TransTelecom (TTK); and three large mobile operators, MTS, Megafon and VEON.
[…]
Source: Another US internet backbone provider is shutting down services in Russia | The Verge