Several local telecom businesses in Russia have lobbied for the closure of VoIP-related internet service firms such as Skype and ICQ, labeling them as a threat to national security, among others, according to a report by Reuters.

Russia’s most powerful business lobby, in cooperation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has motioned towards the creation of a group tasked with the drafting of guidelines detailing security risks that were reportedly introduced by Skype and similar services in Russia’s economy and government.

“Most of the service operators working in Russia, such as Skype and ICQ, are foreign. It is therefore necessary to protect the native companies in this sector and so forth,” according to a press release. The release states that a lack of government restrictions controlling IP telephony, which is the very nature of VoIP technology, gives rise to security concerns, such as the inability of authorities to monitor and spy on VoIP telephone conversations.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology which allows voice and audio signals to be sent through already existing internet connections, effectively allowing long-distance calls on a worldwide scale at relatively cheaper rates than traditional methods.

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