Russian President Putin still uses Windows XP

Microsoft Windows XP is now completely obsolete with the support for the OS even being ended by Microsoft way back in 2014. Microsoft advised everyone to upgrade their OS when the support ended however, it has come to attention of a Russian website Open Media that Russian President Putin still uses Windows XP in some press photos. The old OS is reported being used in the Kremlin and his official residence.

Even the US government back in 2014 was warned that no government staff can use the OS due to potential security risks but President Vladimir Putin seems to be really comfortable using the outdated OS. It is however mainly because it’s not that simple for the government to upgrade to a newer version of Windows since non-Russian software are banned and the last OS to be approved by the country’s Service for Technical and Export Control was Windows XP. However, this restriction is only for systems that contain state secrets and Windows 10 can be used on other systems.

The country’s Federal Service for Technical and Export Control did issue a warning to government agencies to start the transition process back in 2014 when support for Windows XP ended and apparently the government did plan on switching to a Linux OS called Astra which is a Russian made OS but the plan was postponed since the software was not yet ready to use so maybe that is the reason that they stuck to Windows XP for this long until their Astra OS finishes.

Russia has recently passed a lot of laws restricting foreign products and services to become more self-sufficient like banning smartphones from July 2020 that do not have Russian made software of apps. Russia also plans to cut itself from the global internet and make it’s own version of the internet that is directed through a single entity Roskomnadzor which is a Telecommunications organization in Russia.

We have discussed it in detail over here: Russia might cut itself from the Global Internet

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