- Mobile Internet has been restricted in Moscow and St. Petersburg since March 5
- The Kremlin also announced its intention to block Telegram and VPNs.
- An independent media outlet was sanctioned for advertising VPNs
Internet freedoms in Russia appear to be deteriorating rapidly.
Residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg reported widespread disruptions to their mobile Internet connections for almost an entire week. Public Wi-Fi hotspots have also been disabled, with many analysts fearing the restrictions could serve as a precursor to the introduction of a “whitelist” of allowed apps and websites.
At the same time, Russian authorities said that Telegram, which has around 95 million users in the country, would soon be inaccessible even with a VPN.
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Government official Andrey Svintsov claimed that the country’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, now has the technical capacity to selectively restrict VPN traffic. The BBC reported that these measures are expected to be introduced within the next three to six months.
Finally, an independent media outlet is facing legal action for apparently advertising a VPN on Telegram. Although a 2024 law banned the dissemination of information regarding censorship circumvention tools, this is apparently the first time an independent publication has been penalized under the legislation.
Towards a “white list” system?
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the internet shutdowns were measures to “guarantee the security of our citizens.” However, digital rights groups are increasingly concerned that the disruption is linked to the introduction of a whitelisting system.
The system would mean Russians could only access government-approved sites and platforms. Such an approach – as has since been the case in Iran – would likely make access to VPNs considerably more difficult.
“Only VPN tunnels pre-approved by state authorities will continue to operate,” Mazay Banzaev, founder of Russia-based Amnezia VPN, told TechRadar in an interview earlier this year.
For now, it appears Russians are expecting the disruption to continue, with sales of walkie-talkies, pagers and road atlases in Moscow increasing by 27%, 73% and 170%, respectively, as residents seek reliable offline communication.
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