Russian authorities have cut mobile data across Moscow City since 5 March and severed internet access inside the State Duma building for the second consecutive day on 12 March, according to sources cited by Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin attributed the communications blackout in the Duma building to matters of "state security," offering no further explanation.
The disruptions are part of a broader censorship drive that the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says the Kremlin is accelerating to get ahead of domestic unrest — particularly rolling reserve call-ups and the September 2026 Duma elections.
Telegram is at the center of the campaign. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that the platform must comply with Russian law or face a full block, calling on Telegram to maintain "flexible" contact with Russian authorities. State Duma Information Policy Committee Deputy Chairperson Andrey Svintsov went further, claiming that the federal censor Roskomnadzor already has the technical capability to throttle Telegram even for users accessing it via VPNs, and that it "will gradually start throttling Telegram through VPNs."
Svintsov justified the restrictions by linking what he called "uncontrolled communications" to terrorist attacks on Russian soil — a framing that mirrors the Kremlin's long-standing security rationale for internet controls.
The campaign extends beyond Telegram. According to ISW, the Kremlin is simultaneously pushing Russians toward state-controlled applications such as the Max messenger app, imprisoning dissidents, and cutting off access to foreign internet resources. ISW assesses that Russia may be building out these physical and social controls on its internet in preparation for a potential future conflict with NATO.
The censorship drive is drawing criticism inside Russia. A Telegram channel focused on political commentary reported that discussion of the restrictions in the Russian information space has reached a verdict of "madness." The channel warned that the crackdown has fractured what it described as a "narrative of unity" between the government and the public — damage the Kremlin will "struggle to recover" before the September 2026 Duma elections, according to the channel.
ISW assesses that the pace of the crackdown signals that President Vladimir Putin may not be as confident in the stability of his regime as official messaging suggests.
