Russia has called Linux’s recent [1]delisting of several Russian kernel

Russia has called Linux’s recent [1]delisting of several Russian kernel
maintainers “an act of discrimination” and pledged to establish an
independent development community for the open-source operating system.

“We will strengthen cooperation and establish a dialogue with those
countries that are ready to work with us,” Russia’s digital ministry
said in a [2]comment to local media, adding that they plan to build
their own “alternative structure."

“It is important to create conditions for cooperation, which can help
develop a unique product,” the ministry’s representative added. It is
unclear whether the creation of an alternative Linux community has been
discussed with other countries and whether it is even possible. Leaders
within the Linux project have not publicly commented on the Russian
statement.

Russia’s response came after the Linux community blocked 11 Russians
from maintaining the Linux kernel — the operating system’s core code —
citing “various compliance requirements.” Linux creator Linus Torvalds
stated that this decision “is not getting reverted,” adding that as a
Finn, he will not “support Russian aggression.”

One of the Linux maintainers later explained that the restrictions
would apply to developers whose companies are owned or controlled by
entities on the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control list, designated
as involved in activities that “threaten the national security, foreign
policy, or economy” of the country.

Most of the delisted Russian maintainers were indeed associated with
sanctioned Russian companies or organizations controlled or backed by
the Russian government.

Russian cyber experts have criticized Linux’s latest decision, saying
it will negatively affect trust within Linux’s developer community and
the quality of the product.

An expert from the Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, which has
been sanctioned by the U.S., said in an [3]interview with Russian media
RBK that the level of suspicion toward patches from Russian developers
may increase, complicating the process of integrating changes into the
main version of the software, which is important for maintaining Linux
distributions.

“The contribution of Russian developers to the Linux kernel is not that
significant, so nothing critical will happen in this regard,” said
another Russian expert, Ivan Panchenko, co-founder of a Russian company
that develops an open-source database management system.

He added that Russian patches for general software issues will likely
continue to be accepted. Many Linux developers work on parts of the
operating system that are outside the kernel. However, Panchenko said
there may be new, separate versions of the kernel created by Russian
developers — so-called forks.

This is not the first time that associations with Russia have caused
problems for local developers. Last year, a Russian coder's account was
blocked on GitHub, and his repositories were marked as "archived." The
affected developer reportedly worked for a Russian tech equipment
manufacturer sanctioned by Canada and the U.S.

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[5]Daryna Antoniuk
[6]

Daryna Antoniuk

is a reporter for Recorded Future News based in Ukraine. She writes
about cybersecurity startups, cyberattacks in Eastern Europe and the
state of the cyberwar between Ukraine and Russia. She previously was a
tech reporter for Forbes Ukraine. Her work has also been published at
Sifted, The Kyiv Independent and The Kyiv Post.

References

1. https://therecord.media/linus-torvalds-russian-linux-kernel-maintainers-removed
2. https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/28/10/2024/671e424c9a7947704249be2c
3. https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/28/10/2024/671e424c9a7947704249be2c
4. https://www.recordedfuture.com/platform?mtm_campaign=ad-unit-record
5. https://therecord.media/author/daryna-antoniuk
6. https://therecord.media/author/daryna-antoniuk