‘Wake up already’: Internet disruptions and Telegram outages fuel growing anger among Russian users
The Russian authorities appears to be blocking or throttling Telegram. According to the head of the Internet Protection Society, by the evening of March 16 the messenger’s availability had dropped to 75 percent, which means that one in four messages fails to reach its recipient. Kommersant reports that over the past week, the share of failed requests to Telegram domains has risen to nearly 80 percent on average.
Back in February 2026, Russia’s federal censorship agency Roskomnadzor said it would continue imposing restrictions on Telegram until the company’s leadership agreed to “comply with Russian law.” Though agency hasn’t acknowledged this latest wave of disruptions, Russian users have little doubt that it’s behind the problems — and they’ve been quick to express this view on social media. Meduza has compiled comments showing how angry many have become at Roskomnadzor.
The latest post on Roskomnadzor’s official VKontakte page is a holiday greeting wishing Russians a happy International Women’s Day. But in the comments beneath it, users didn’t discuss the holiday — they complained about Russia’s Internet problems.
- “Could you maybe lift the blocks for the girls just for one day? 💐🙏🙏🙏”
- “Seriously, you even throttled the Internet on a holiday. Unreal.”
- “Thanks for shutting off the Internet on March 8 — what a gift. Can’t even reach loved ones to congratulate them.”
- “Thanks for cutting off the Internet since noon — I was worried those Western services might swallow me whole and I’d never be the same again…”
- “What a festive day! Especially the gift — no Internet! Both at home and on mobile, gone just like that! Never seen anything like it, and yet here we go again. Were you waiting for a special occasion to go all out with the slowdowns?:)))))”
Users also asked what threats, exactly, Roskomnadzor is actually combating, as it’s previously cited the rise in online scams in recent years as a justification for Internet restrictions. Despite the growing crackdown, online scams have continued to thrive, even on the state-backed messenger Max.
When will Roskomnadzor start doing something actually important and block real extremist content instead of blacklisting everything indiscriminately? Seems like they’re fighting — just not the right thing. Blocks and slowdowns, lol, seriously? Let’s just block everything and live like Turkmenistan. That’ll be great for future generations — why would we need to watch videos or play games after work? Oh right, after work we should all go straight to having children — gotta boost demographics.
Complaints about mobile Internet and cell service outages in Moscow began appearing in the comments around the middle of last week (even though under a new law, those complaints are formally supposed to be directed to other agencies such as the Federal Security Service). Many users have asked where these restrictions are ultimately heading.
- “Who’s going to compensate businesses for losses from shutting down the Internet in central Moscow? 🤔 At the coffee shop it’s cash-only now — usually there are lines, but today it’s empty. VkusVill on Teatralnaya Square is closed, and so on. And you still expect to collect taxes from businesses? What are you going to live off?”
- “How shameless do you have to be to spit in people’s faces under made-up pretexts? Maybe you should check [Russian social media site] VKontakte — the platform you’re sitting on — for extremism? There are openly hostile groups and fundraisers there. But sure, keep going with your ban craze — you’re sawing off the branch you’re sitting on. I used to be extremely loyal to the authorities; now I’ll be the first to vote for whoever promises to ban the banners.”
- “I can’t access anything except VKontakte to write this — there’s no Internet! I’ve been writing to [mobile operator] MegaFon support since November: tickets open and close again, but no one does anything! I can’t book a doctor’s appointment for my husband — [state bureaucracy portal] Gosuslugi won’t load, they won’t accept complaints, there are supposedly no restrictions at my address, but everything broke when they set up whitelists! The Internet hasn’t been restored! What am I supposed to do?????”
- “You [Roskomnadzor officials] are completely detached from reality. You have no idea how people live or what they need. You just don’t care.”
- “What are you trying to achieve in the long run? You’re angering people, destroying almost any business initiative, taking away people’s income. You’re wrecking the country’s future. Wake up already.”
Then, starting over the weekend, commenters hit by the latest wave of Telegram disruptions joined in.
- ”Stop throttling Telegram!”
- “I get cutting off the Internet when there’s a drone threat — at least that has some logic. But why block all messengers? What did YouTube do to you? How is this about security? Let people choose how they communicate!”
- “What kind of animals are blocking me from accessing Telegram right now? Is someone doing this on purpose, like a personal enemy?”
- “Why doesn’t Telegram work even over Wi-Fi now?! Stop violating citizens’ rights!”
- “How are we supposed to work if all our chats were on Telegram? Should we just not work?”
You’re currently reading Meduza, the world’s largest independent Russian news outlet. Every day, we bring you essential coverage from Russia and beyond. Explore our reporting here and follow us wherever you get your news.
Roskomnadzor’s attempts to block Telegram also affected other services — including Yandex, Kinopoisk, and the delivery company CDEK, all of which experienced outages. Even VKontakte itself, despite its cooperation with Russian law enforcement, wasn’t spared.
- “When will you leave people alone? Even VK doesn’t work properly anymore!”
- “I just wanted to watch a movie on VK, but it froze and won’t load. Thanks.”
- “Why did you kill VK Video? Nothing loads.”
Some users point out that Max — the state-promoted messenger pitched as a full-fledged alternative to Telegram — is nowhere near as functional, and can’t be used to communicate with people in Europe.
- “Bring back Telegram! You took Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp — now Telegram too. Brilliant. I refuse to install Max on principle because of this policy and approach. If you want to fight terrorism and fraud, do it differently — not by stripping people of their ability to communicate, run businesses, and access the channels they’d already moved to Telegram after earlier bans. This is just abuse.”
- “How am I supposed to talk to my boyfriend who lives in the U.S.? Through Max?”
- “Maybe build a decent alternative before blocking Telegram? Max isn’t even close.”
At some point, Roskomnadzor’s moderators began deleting critical comments en masse — something users noticed quickly.
- “They even went through the trouble of cleaning up half a thousand comments 🤣🤦♂️”
- “You deleted my comments again — just like many others! A direct violation of Article 29 of the Russian Constitution [which ensures the freedom of thought and speech] 🤡🤡”
- “My comment was deleted even though it contained nothing illegal. Guess the Constitution doesn’t exist anymore.”
- “Stop deleting comments. You don’t have long left. Soon all these complaints will reach the top.”
- “So now you’ve sunk to deleting comments — untie people’s hands already.”
Some users expect things to get worse. For others, the situation with Telegram — and the Runet more broadly — has become the final straw.
- “Waiting for you to block the air next.”
- “Thanks — I finally bought a ticket and I’m leaving this country. You helped me make the decision.”
- “They want people to switch to domestic apps and messengers — but all they’re really doing is driving people out of Russia. Are your brains throttled too, or what?”
Meduza