Russia’s internet crackdown leads to spring of growing discontent in central Moscow against Kremlin

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Several dozen people lined up outside a presidential administration building on a sunny spring weekend in central Moscow as police stood nearby and watched them closely. The people were lodging complaints about the government’s intensifying crackdown on the internet that has seen regular shutdowns of cellphone internet connections, blocked popular messaging apps and cut access to thousands of other websites and digital services.
It was the latest sign of the growing anger and frustration over the restrictions that have disrupted the daily lives of Russians, hurt businesses and drawn criticism even from Kremlin supporters.
Knowing that any unauthorized demonstrations are harshly suppressed, activists have tried to organize authorized rallies, plastered posters on walls and notice boards, and filed lawsuits. Industry leaders pleaded with authorities to repeal the measures.
Even the leader of Armenia delivered a not-so-veiled barb at Russia during a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin on April 1. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that in Armenia, “our social media, for example, is 100% free. There are no restrictions whatsoever.”
An unsmiling Putin stared at Pashinyan with slightly raised eyebrows.
The clampdown not only serves to control what websites Russians can see, but also has thrown digital life into disarray, making it difficult to order taxis and deliveries, pay for goods and services electronically, and stay in touch with friends and family.
Politician and Kremlin critic Boris Nadezhdin spoke for many Russians who are upset about the internet clampdown when he said in an interview with The Associated Press: “This pisses off a huge number of people.”
Moves toward internet control for years, Russia has sought to take the internet under total government control and potentially cut it off from the rest of the world, blocking tens of thousands of websites, messaging apps and social media platforms that refuse to cooperate with the authorities.
Internet users have become used to circumventing the restrictions by using virtual private networks, or VPNs, even as the government has been actively blocking those, too.
But last year, the restrictions reached a whole new level: sweeping shutdowns of cellphone internet connections – and sometimes broadband, too – leaving only a handful of websites and apps on government-approved “white lists.”
Officials claimed the drastic measures were needed to thwart Ukrainian drones relying on Russian cellphone internet for navigation as Kyiv tries to strike back during Moscow’s 4-year-old military operation in Ukraine.
But the shutdowns hit remote regions that have never been targeted by Ukraine’s drones, with ordinary people and businesses decrying the measures as detrimental.
The Kremlin has gone after the country’s two most popular messaging apps — WhatsApp and Telegram — while simultaneously promoting a state-backed “national” app called MAX, widely seen as a surveillance tool.
At first, voice and video calls on WhatsApp and Telegram were blocked. Then, sending messages became effectively impossible, too, without using a VPN.
Last week, Digital and Communications Minister Maksut Shadayev said his ministry received orders to further decrease the use of VPNs. Unconfirmed media reports said his ministry proposed a flurry of new measures against VPNs. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent by AP.
Lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, co-founder of the RKS Global digital rights group, told AP the goal of the authorities is to drive internet users into a “digital ghetto” of Russian, government-controlled apps and platforms.
Business leaders seek moderation in recent weeks, a growing number of business leaders in Russia have voiced concern about the sweeping restrictions and urged authorities to take a more moderate approach.
Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told Putin at a recent forum of the group that cellphone internet shutdowns “made life difficult for both businesses and citizens.”