The Internet? It's a "CIA project," according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin made that bizarre remark on Thursday at a media forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the Associated Press' translation. He said the Internet "is still developing as such," which is why Russia needs to "fight for its interests online."
To a certain extent, Putin's words shouldn't come as a surprise. Russia has long had ambitions to control the Internet. In recent years, the country has passed a series of laws building one of the most sophisticated online surveillance states in the world, which spans to social media as well.
Last week, Pavel Durov, founder Russia's Facebook equivalent Vkontate, said the country's Federal Security Service (FSB) asked the company to reveal the personal information of the protesters in Ukraine. At the time, Durov refused, but he later sold the company to Alisher Usmanov, a rich Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin.
It's not just surveillance; Russia has powerful Internet censorship tools in place as well. Last month, the Russian government blocked access to websites of prominent opposition members, like Garry Kasparov and Alexei Navalny, under a law passed late last year that allows the government to block websites that call for unauthorized protests.
Putin's remarks could signal that the Russian president's ambitions to tighten his grip on citizens' Internet freedoms are still unsatisfied.