Nighttime mobile Internet outages in Russian regions reportedly linked to anti-drone measures, not routine technical work

The disconnection of mobile Internet service in a number of Russian regions in recent days is linked to the “additional configuration of law enforcement equipment for anti-drone and air defense,” the newspaper Kommersant reported on Monday, citing industry sources.

The Russian government announced planned nighttime mobile Internet outages in the country’s Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod regions in late January. While the authorities attributed the outages to “technical work on the configuration of the radio frequency spectrum,” Kommersant’s sources said telecom companies are not conducting the shutdowns on their own initiative.

“There’s an order from the Digital Development Ministry. The operators’ equipment is functioning properly; there’s no need for disconnections on our end,” three sources from major telecom operators told the paper.

Sources who spoke to Kommersant and RBC said that one of the reasons for the increased security measures was Vladimir Putin’s January 26 visit to St. Petersburg.