Russian police to exchange plans for solving cyber crimes

The Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian police will exchange plans for solving crimes, also cyber crimes, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said on Monday. He said such an arrangement was made at the joint panel of the Russian Interior Ministry and the Armenian police in Sochi on Monday. “We have been conducting joint operations with Armenian colleagues for a number of years now and there were specific results. We agreed today to intensify our cooperation and pass on from the exchange of information to the exchange of plans to solve crimes,” he said, noting that this would make joint work more effective. Kolokoltsev said, specifically, it is intended to intensify cooperation in fighting cyber crimes. This was a separate topic of the discussion. “Cyber crimes cause substantial material damage in many countries. For instance, in the United States, according to official data only, it amounts to nearly 114 billion dollars annually. According to expert estimate, the aggregate annual damage is about 2 billion dollars in Russia,” the minister said. He stressed that while national borders were a barrier to criminals not long ago, the internet’s development in the recent years cardinally changed the situation. ‘The number of cyber crimes grows in proportion to the number of network users. According to the Interpol assessment, the pace of the crime growth in the world-wide web is the highest, and there is every indication this trend will persist,” Kolokoltsev said. He suggested to the Armenian colleagues to analyze the work done in fighting cyber crime and to determine the prospects and ways of the further strengthening of cooperation.