Sergei Boiko spent a month in a Russian jail last year after sending a tweet inviting people to a protest the Kremlin had declared illegal. If they close the internet, we have no place at all," said Boiko, who told the huge crowd his story. A portrait of Russian internet entrepreneur Pavel Durov dressed as a saint is held above the crowd at Sunday's protest. Duma parliamentarian Andrei Lugovoi, shown in 2013, says Russia needs to protect itself against foreign cyberattacks or attempts to disrupt Russian internet sites. "Our goal is that in cases where there are aggressive actions that our citizens can continue to use the internet," Lugovoi told Russian parliamentarians during debate on the measures.

Source: CBC News March 11, 2019 15:23 UTC