Russia Offline: Mobile Internet Blackout in Moscow for Weeks, State Malware Emerges

For weeks, mobile internet connectivity has been practically absent in Moscow and St. Petersburg: smartphones are blocked, VPNs are systematically disabled, electronic payments are malfunctioning, and access to foreign websites is reduced to a limited list of government-approved addresses. This is the most extensive digital blackout that Russia has imposed on its citizens since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, and the question of what is truly behind it is far from settled.

The Official Version and Its Contradictions

The Kremlin has provided two distinct explanations that are not necessarily compatible: blocking Ukrainian drones, which might use mobile networks for navigation and target identification, and fighting cybercrime. A law signed at the beginning of the month has formalized these blackouts, exempting operators from any legal liability for the interruptions. As reported by CNN, the general feeling is that the government wants to control the ability to access information freely and visit foreign websites.

The same official justifications have proven technically fragile: the crackdown on VPNs has also affected Russian banks, which use them as a security tool for their IT systems, rendering it impossible to update any company software whose servers are located abroad. Natalia Kasperskaja, president of the Russian programmers' association, certified the institutional short circuit: "The dialogue between the relevant ministry and IT companies has degraded."

For millions of Russians, the practical repercussions have been immediate. Booking a taxi, scheduling a medical appointment, using maps, or simply paying with a debit card have become problematic operations, leading to queues at ATMs and a forced return to cash, which has also troubled banks. Telephone companies have promptly advertised refunds for unused data traffic, explicitly distancing themselves from government decisions. In Moscow, navigation services like Yandex Maps and 2GIS are also suffering from persistent GPS signal disturbances, active since the beginning of the conflict to disorient drones, with Yandex taxi drivers struggling daily to reach customers.

The gradual construction of a national internet separated from the global network is a phenomenon we have been following for some time on our dedicated internet and social pages: Russia has been working on the RuNet project since 2019, but 2026 marks an unprecedented acceleration in the effective closure of the network to ordinary citizens.

MAX and the Drift Towards the Chinese Model

Alongside the blackouts, the Kremlin is strongly pushing the spread of MAX, a super messaging app launched in 2025 by VK with state support as an alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram. Mandatory on all devices sold in Russia from 2025, it would also serve as a system for recognizing citizens' identities to access state services and payments. According to various experts, it would also acquire user geolocation, transforming into a potential surveillance tool. It is no coincidence that during the March blackouts, MAX also experienced an interruption: some specialists believe that this malfunction prompted the Federal Telecommunications Agency to temporarily ease its grip on Telegram, which had activated its own technical countermeasures after the government established a series of restrictions. Instead of Facebook, which has been banned since 2022 as a platform for an "extremist organization," VK remains active but is long under the control of entities close to the Kremlin following the exit of founder Pavel Durov in 2014.

State Malware and Protest Movements

The most recent escalation involves the spread of malicious attachments: according to reports from RBK, the authorities are allegedly forcing IT companies to distribute spyware capable of detecting the use of VPNs on devices, activated as soon as one visits some of the most common sites. The crackdown comes at a politically sensitive moment: the special operation in Ukraine has surpassed 1500 days, and federal parliamentary elections are scheduled for September. In the provinces, from Volzhkij to Kaluga, organized protest movements led by youth, who are often unaware of the legal risks, have formed. A television commentator has already dismissed the entire operation as "an unpopular and useless campaign like Gorbachev's crusade against alcohol in the 1980s": the remark circulated on a federal economic channel, which says much about the level of discontent even among those not hostile to the regime.