By Olha Chepil | 2026-04-22

Every day, millions of Russians in Moscow and Saint Petersburg open their phones and find dead zones. Navigation fails. Banking apps freeze. Messaging services go silent. The Kremlin calls it a security measure. Analysts call it a blueprint.

The disruptions are not random. They are training exercises conditioning users to accept a smaller, state-curated internet. And what people can still access when the signal drops tells the real story.

The approved list

Russian authorities are advancing a "white list" model: by default, everything is blocked except a narrow set of government services, state-friendly banks, loyal platforms, and official media.

"In effect, the Russian authorities are hand-picking the websites and online services people can use," Oleg Kozlovsky, Amnesty International's (AI) Russia expert, told Kontur. "Independent media and secure, encrypted messengers will never make it onto those lists."

Kozlovsky described it as behavioral conditioning. If Google fails but Yandex loads, if Instagram freezes while VKontakte opens, users gradually stop clicking the locked icons. Within six months, the habit is broken.

"'White lists' are the most radical way to restrict internet freedom; the only thing worse is a total shutdown," he said. "It is the principle of 'whatever is not permitted is prohibited.'"

The endgame, Kozlovsky warned, is a sovereign digital ecosystem where a censor issues the entry ticket and what was once an open network becomes something closer to Russian state television, with a handful of channels under total government control.

Surveillance tax

Public frustration has begun spilling into the streets. On March 29, security forces detained more than 20 people in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga, and Voronezh at protests against the internet blockages, according to rights group OVD-Info.

For most Russians, resistance remains technological. Anna Rapoport, a resident of Saint Petersburg, said mobile internet drops are brief and manageable -- 10 to 15 minutes at a time and virtual private networks (VPNs) remain a reliable workaround.

"Telegram and WhatsApp work; people simply bypass the restrictions," she told Kontur.

The Kremlin is moving to close that loophole. According to Forbes, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev demanded at closed-door meetings with telecom operators and technology companies that a fee be introduced for VPN use. The proposed scheme would charge users for any international traffic exceeding 15 gigabytes (GB) per month. Sources told Forbes the initiative stems from a classified order by President Vladimir Putin, with the new charge potentially taking effect as May 1. Shadayev also suggested introducing administrative liability for those who continue to seek unrestricted access.

The state has also tried to replace banned apps outright. Messenger Max, promoted as a patriotic alternative to WhatsApp and Telegram, has been pushed on Russian users. Rapoport said many people installed it, often on a second phone they never use. Young people, she added, largely ignore it.

Fear, not strategy

Behind the restrictions, analysts see something more visceral than long-term planning.

"I think this is more about panic -- a sense of panic among the Russian authorities who fear potential strikes and feel their own vulnerability," Russian sociologist Igor Eidman, whom Russian authorities have designated a "foreign agent," told Kontur. "In an attempt to protect themselves, they are effectively ruining people's lives."

That fear, analysts say, is producing increasingly archaic responses. On March 26, Rostelecom President Mikhail Oseevskiy reported a surge in demand for landline phone installations and urged Russians to reconnect.

"It is simply a guaranteed method [of communication]. I directly advise everyone to return to the landline. Like a fire extinguisher -- it should be in every home," he was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.

The broader trajectory is clear to observers. Mobile disruptions, white lists, and pressure on VPNs together form a new model of network access -- one already tested in Iran and China, where the state does not simply block content but builds a closed national ecosystem to replace it. Russia, analysts say, is moving in the same direction.

"They would, of course, gladly shut the internet down entirely," Eidman said. "Take Putin, who doesn't use the internet himself, as he has said."