There will be no internet censorship in Armenia, what is nor prohibited by law is allowed – President Sargsyan

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. The National Security officers of Armenia have managed to prevent both real terroristic threats and a number of clandestine manifestations closely related with them thank to the comprehensive analysis of terroristic threats and timely implementation of operative-investigative activities, ARMENPRESS reports President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced during the solemn session dedicated to the National Security Officer's Day.

“According to the observations of reputable international organizations, as well as the assessments of our experts, during the upcoming years no tendencies of decline of terroristic threats are predicted. From this perspective Armenia has always been assessed as relatively safe country. Anyway, we do not rule out that conditioned by the geographical location of our country, our unique external environment, or at least the rise of the number of tourists, there may be some forces that will try to reach their aspirations in Armenia in that way.

Therefore, we have to demonstrate maximal vigilance in the fight against this evil and closely cooperate with our allies and other interested services. Our country will be open; tourism development is one of our priorities. Moreover, facilitation and liberalization of the visa with various countries will be a continuous process. Therefore, you have to be always watchful. I think that your anti-terrorist activities should be activated”, the President of Armenia said.

Serzh Sargsyan noted that the methods and measures of the fight against terrorism should be regularly improved. According to him, only in this case we will be able to protect our citizens and state bodies more effectively, moreover, it should be done both inside the country and outside.

“I think thank to the operative and literate solutions of the issues discussed at the NSC session a few days ago, we will manage to raise our capacity to counter-measure that evil to a new level. I also find that conditioned by the features of the new governance system, the review of the current strategy of the fight against terrorism will be among the first issues on the agenda of the future Executive aimed at modernizing it and making more flexible that will meet all the modern requirements”, the President of Armenia said.

He underlined that the experience of the fight against one of the types of terrorism, cyber-terrorism, shows that its risks do not decline either. “We have to have a watchful attitude towards cyber-security issues, considering the rising importance of information and communication technologies in our lives. In the modern world information networks have become one of the key infrastructures of any state. Their normal operation is vital for all the aspects. That sector is among the priorities of our economy with a great development potential. It’s obvious that parallel to our success in this sphere the number of such attacks will rise as well”, Serz Sargsyan said.

To the conviction of the President of Armenia, both physical and digital infrastructures of our country should be protected from criminals. He noted that only in 2017 the national security officers prevented nearly 1.5 million attempts of obtaining illegal access to the information systems and websites of the state bodies of Armenia or other attacks.

“Of course, I am not talking about micro issues. We are not going to find simple solutions by limiting the freedom of speech or the right to communicate or disseminate information. There will be no internet censorship in Armenia, what is nor prohibited by law is allowed. I am convinced the Armenian society is so mature that can solve those issues by self-regulation”, Serzh Sargsyan said.

He emphasized that the national security bodies should act in the framework of the international right and the best international practice. Here international cooperation is of key importance and we should be ready to discuss all the proposals about cooperation in this sphere.

“On a macro-level, of course, it’s necessary to ensure the protection of the vital information and communication infrastructures. Among those infrastructures the information and communication means used for the protection and security of the state are on the first place, as well as the networks ensuring the normal operation and stability of the financial system” Serzh Sargsyan said, stressing that state databases should be protected in the best way, since the criminal external encroachments against them are inevitable.

He emphasized that the proper implementation of the “Information SecurityandInformation Policy Concept of the Republic of Armenia” approved by his decree recently will strengthen the toolkit in this sphere which is of dire importance in the light of the continuous development of high technologies.