海角大神

Residents of Moscow have long been familiar with war-related GPS spoofing, particularly downtown, where it forces drivers to reach for paper maps when their mobile phone navigator goes haywire.

The spoofing is engineered by security forces to prevent attacking Ukrainian drones from utilizing local signals to aid their targeting, and many Muscovites seem to accept it with a shrug.

But in recent weeks, they have been hit by a wave of orchestrated internet and mobile phone disruptions, creating digital mayhem in some quarters. In addition, the government seems to be 鈥渢hrottling鈥� 鈥� or deliberately slowing down 鈥� WhatsApp and Telegram, Russia鈥檚 most widely used messaging apps, which the government wants to replace with a Russian-developed super-app called Max.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very irritating, but what can we do?鈥� says Natalya, a Moscow office worker who asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons. 鈥淚 once thought of getting rid of my landline, and I鈥檓 so glad I didn鈥檛. Maybe we鈥檙e going to have to fall back on those phones.鈥�

Officials hint that it is part of a shadowy electronic war with Ukrainian enemies. But some analysts worry it鈥檚 a dress rehearsal for a plan to corral the country鈥檚 formerly open digital space and expel foreign influences.

Internet interference

Russia has long planned to establish a 鈥渟overeign internet鈥� that can stand alone, relying on only Russian resources, says Sarkis Darbinyan, a cyberlawyer with , a Russia-focused digital rights group. 鈥淭he idea is that if the global West splits off Russia from the internet, then Russian authorities have the complete infrastructure and methods in place to keep a self-sufficient Russian internet working,鈥� he says.

Authorities have made little effort to explain the current flurry of disruptive measures, which are apparently countrywide. In Moscow, they have affected many local businesses and have sometimes left people unable to book a taxi, pay with a bank card, or even make a phone call. The outages are so far localized and temporary, but unpredictable. In a report about the situation, the daily newspaper Izvestia as saying, 鈥淭he internet doesn鈥檛 work on one street, but it does on the next one.鈥�

Asked about the problems, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said something might be done to compensate businesses that experience losses due to internet disruptions, but otherwise, 鈥淐itizens should have no doubt that the main goal is to ensure security.鈥� He added that the Ukrainians are using increasingly sophisticated means of electronic warfare against Russia, requiring the use of 鈥渢echnological retaliatory measures.鈥�

Ramil Sitdikov/Reuters

The Russian messaging app Max runs on a smartphone in front of the logos of WhatsApp and Telegram. The Kremlin has been promoting the use of Max in Russia as an alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram, both of which are based outside the country.

Some analysts suggest that authorities might be preparing for a near-complete shutdown of the internet, perhaps to be implemented in a time of emergency, that would keep about 900 core Russian websites working normally. A 鈥溾�� of these sites was published this month, and it includes most basic services and approved media and social media platforms, as well as government operations.

This is the first time most Russians, especially people in Moscow, have been seriously hit by an internet crackdown, which authorities suggest is related to the war in Ukraine. Lev Gudkov, a director at the Levada Center, Russia鈥檚 only independent public opinion agency, says that large numbers of urban people, and many key businesses, have come to depend on the internet as part of daily life.

鈥淵oung people, up to 50 years old, are heavily connected to social nets, engage in information search, online shopping, even such a simple thing as ordering a taxi. Of course, this internet interference is affecting them.鈥�

Russia鈥檚 media regulator, , has been pruning the internet for years in an effort to make social media obey increasingly strict national security laws. Foreign-based platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and X were blocked for refusing to house their data for Russian users on servers in Russia. Now, the agency is throttling Telegram, WhatsApp, and other foreign-based messaging apps, making them largely unusable for the more than half of Russian internet users who don鈥檛 engage a virtual private network (VPN). There are also on April 1.

鈥淭here is a bureaucratic battle over this. Many state agencies, and lots of officials, use Telegram in their work. Soldiers in the [war in Ukraine] depend on it for communication,鈥� says Anton Merkurov, an independent media expert. 鈥淏ut the security services say these apps are used by terrorists, fraudsters, and other enemies. The Kremlin sees them as organizing tools for protesters, and conduits for dissent.鈥�

So far, he adds, 鈥渢hose who want to block Telegram are winning.鈥�

鈥淢ax is not doing well鈥�

About half of Russians currently use a VPN, says Mr. Darbinyan, and the effect of these measures will probably be to increase the use of VPNs. So far, a working VPN enables a user to bypass most of the internet interference and access foreign websites and apps with ease.

鈥淧eople are not ready to go into the streets,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut use of VPNs is an act of protest in itself. At least it shows that people are still hungry for information.鈥�

Though VPNs are not strictly illegal in Russia, the government has been by removing them from app stores and using new technology to detect and block common VPN protocols.

There seems little enthusiasm for Max, despite the fact that it performs all the functions of the other platforms that are under attack, integrates with government services and leading Russian banks, and comes preinstalled on all new digital devices sold in Russia.

Statistics suggest that as of early 2026, Telegram was , with almost 100 million users. WhatsApp was second, with about 90 million users, while Max trailed with fewer than 75 million. But the strong state-backed promotion of Max, combined with the throttling of its competitors, makes it likely that this picture will change.

鈥淢ax is not doing well. It has a lot of bugs,鈥� says Mr. Merkurov. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 want to use it. They know that what comes from the government is never good.鈥�

Roskomnadzor tried to take down Telegram once before, in 2018. But its efforts to block the app created massive collateral damage for Russian businesses and internet users, and the government was forced to back off. This time, it is employing even more disruptive methods, but seems likely to succeed.

A major difference is the ongoing war, which enables the government to cite national security to justify harsh measures, says Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the Sova Center in Moscow, which monitors trends in political speech.

鈥淢ost things we call repressive these days are related to the war, directly or indirectly,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 mean that when the war ends, things will return to what they were. So many new laws and regulations have been passed, so many new facts created, and we will probably be living in this new reality for a long time.鈥�