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When? Russians Looking ahead to 2025, they may remember it as the year the government took even tighter control of the Internet.
Credit cards with which tickets cannot be purchased on public transport. atm Which is not connected to any network. Messaging apps that are down. Cellphones that do not receive messages or data after traveling abroad. mothers Many children suffering from diabetes also complain that they cannot monitor their children’s blood sugar levels during vacation.
Cellphone internet shutdowns to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks have affected dozens of Russian regions for months. Popular messaging apps are also restricted, with the government promoting a state-controlled app that is seen by critics as a potential surveillance tool.
Although broadband and Wi-Fi Internet access remains unaffected, Russians contacted by The Associated Press described digital disruptions in their daily lives. All spoke on condition of complete anonymity for their safety.
Blackouts and ‘white lists’ are part of Russian strategy
Widespread cellphone internet shutdowns began in May and continued through the summer and autumn. In November, an average of 57 Russian regions reported daily disruptions in cellphone links, according to Na Sivazhi, an activist group monitoring the shutdown.
Officials say the blockages are designed to prevent Ukrainian drones from exploiting mobile networks for navigation.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov He said they were “completely appropriate and necessary”, but Katarina Stepanenko, an analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said they had not been effective in curbing the intensification of Ukraine’s drone attacks, “given the number of attacks we have seen on Russian oil refineries in recent months.”
In many regions, only a handful of government-approved Russian websites and online services – designated “white lists” – are available during the connectivity blackout.
What is available on the “white list” varies by provider and includes official websites, email and social media platforms, two online marketplaces, and the Russian search engine Yandex and its services. One provider provides access to banking apps, but others do not. Officials have promised to expand the lists.
Marina, who lives in the Pacific coast city of Vladivostok, described her concern when she learned that only an app for the government-controlled bank was working during the mobile internet shutdown and wondered what it meant for the future.
“To me, that’s the scariest thing,” she said. “The loss of information, the loss of freedom, essentially, is the most frustrating thing to me.”
In Ulyanovsk, a city along the Volga River, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) east of Moscow, a resident described how his credit card was not working when he tapped it on a tram’s payment terminal during an outage. He did not have enough cash.
Families with children with diabetes say they cannot monitor their children’s glucose levels through special apps when they are at school and cellphone internet is down. Mothers in social media posts explain that children can often miss the moment when their blood sugar levels change, requiring intervention, and special apps have allowed parents to see this remotely and alert them. It gets disrupted due to disconnection.
Officials have tried to promote the joys of reconnecting with a technology-free lifestyle.
Internet regulatory agency Roskomnadzor posted a cartoon on social media showing two scenes of a young man: one staring at his phone in a dark apartment and the other happily strolling in a park with a cup of coffee and a book.
Going offline “doesn’t mean losing touch. Sometimes it means getting in touch with yourself,” the cartoon advises.
But the post drew mostly angry and sarcastic comments.
Restrictions imposed on SIM cards
A recent anti-drone ban sets a 24-hour “cooling period” during which data and text are blocked from SIM cards that were taken abroad or were inactive for 72 hours. The owner can unblock it through a link received by text message.
However, if the SIM card is used in Internet-connected devices or devices without an interface to receive text messages, such as a portable Wi-Fi router, car or meter box, unblocking becomes impossible.
Lawmaker Andrei Svintsov said that in Russia there are many electricity meters with SIM cards that broadcast readings once a month.
“Does this mean they will all die? All the heating boilers will shut down, and all the Chinese cars will stop working? This is a big problem, and I don’t know if the government is even aware of it,” he said.
Messaging apps are targeted
Other restrictions targeted two popular messaging apps: WhatsApp, with about 96 million monthly users in October, and Telegram, with 91 million, according to media monitoring group Mediascope.
Authorities began restricting calls on these apps in August, reportedly to prevent phone scams, and they have been blocked in some parts of Russia. Yelena, who lives in the southern city of Krasnodar, recalled a time in October when Telegram was not available at all, affecting her and her colleagues’ work.
None of the apps are in the government’s “white list”.
On the list is Russian messaging service MAX. The authorities are actively promoting it and since September it is required to preinstall this service on all smartphones in Russia. Critics see it as a surveillance tool because MAX openly declares that it will share user data with authorities upon request. Experts also say that it does not use end-to-end encryption.
State institutions, authorities and businesses are being encouraged to migrate communications and blogs to MAX. Vladivostok resident Marina said her employers are pushing people to use the MAX due to low enthusiasm. She said she doesn’t plan to institute it, and neither do others contacted by the AP.
Max developers claim to have around 50 million users registered on its platform, which it says offers messaging and other services.
MediaScope said MAX had about 48 million monthly users in October, but only 18.9 million average daily users, much lower than WhatsApp’s average daily totals of 81 million and Telegram’s 68 million.
Russians shrugged off sanctions
Denis Volkov, director of the Levada Center, Russia’s top independent pollster, said many Russians feel about the restrictions the same way they feel about the weather: Ultimately, you can’t do anything about it.
Volkov said the authorities’ strategy appears to be to make it harder for average users to access “alternative content” so that they eventually stop looking for it. “Those who are not interested will choose simpler channels and ways to navigate the Internet,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by an Ulyanovsk resident, who said he uses virtual private networks to access some blocked websites and platforms, but VPNs are also regularly blocked, so he has to install a new one every few months.
A small group of his friends exchange recommendations on VPNs, but he believes most people won’t put in that much effort.
Mikhail Klimarev, executive director of the Internet Protection Society activist group, says the Internet is linked to so many economic activities that it is not possible to shut it down completely.
“Groceries are being shipped to stores — it’s being done through the Internet, ordering, processing, etc.,” he said. “A truck is on the road, it’s connected to an information system, maps, navigation, all of it.”
But they anticipate further crackdowns on websites, VPNs and platforms, including blocking messenger apps Telegram and WhatsApp entirely and possibly other, unanticipated measures.
He said, “To be honest, I’m looking at all this with raised eyebrows. It seems like they’ve already come up with everything, and they’re still coming up with something else.”