[GOPJ]

The actual mechanics of the DNS are operated by a wide variety of organizations, but a majority of the “root servers,” which are its foundational layer, are run by groups in the US. Russia sees this as a strategic weakness and wants to create its own alternative, setting up an entire new network of its own root servers.

Of course it's a strategic weakness... Russia's a sovereign country - they have the right to protect their borders. (Something liberal idiots in our country don't understand.)

[palmer]

Except the root servers are neutral, mostly run by universities, coordinated by IANA. They don't censor or give preferential treatment or deny any access. The simply translate names into addresses. The actual control over the internet is in routing to IP addresses. That's yet another neutral group of servers also coordinated by IANA.

Anyone anywhere including Russia can get a routable address for $5 a month and use it to connect to any server anywhere. You can even pay more than that for a VPN service which the Russians will notice and cut off when they want to. Censoring by name (controlling DNS) is dumb because DNS is just a convenience. Censoring by address is better but very difficult and Russia will fail.