The technical glitches, first reported Friday, affected a range of services, from banking to public transportation. Moscow’s metro temporarily allowed passengers to enter turnstiles without payment, while a regional zoo asked visitors to pay in cash after electronic systems failed. Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, acknowledged a technical problem but provided few details, and some domestic media removed reports suggesting the outage was linked to government attempts to block VPNs or specific websites.
“Welcome back to the Digital Resistance, my Russian brothers and sisters,” Durov wrote on Telegram. “The entire nation is now mobilized to bypass these absurd restrictions.”
Russia has intensified its efforts to control online communications in recent years, including blocking mobile internet, restricting messenger apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, and granting authorities broad powers to cut off mass communications. Western diplomats have described these measures as part of a “great crackdown” on digital freedoms.
Officials say the clampdown is necessary for national security, citing deadly attacks inside Russia allegedly linked to Ukraine and purported sabotage by Western intelligence agencies. Russian authorities have also accused Telegram of being infiltrated by Ukrainian and NATO-affiliated intelligence services, claiming that Russian soldiers have been killed as a result. Telegram has denied the allegations, characterizing Moscow’s push as an attempt to compel citizens to switch to the state-backed messaging app, MAX, now mandated in schools and universities.
The Kremlin’s promotion of MAX has reportedly caused frustration among some Russians, Reuters noted Friday. Meanwhile, Telegram—used by over a billion people worldwide and widely accessed in Ukraine—remains partially slowed within Russia, even as Durov faces a criminal investigation in the country over alleged links to terrorism.
The incident underscores the tension between state control of digital infrastructure and widespread citizen resistance, highlighting the challenges of enforcing internet restrictions in an era of decentralized communication platforms.