Faced with a war-weary public and a steadily collapsing economy, the Kremlin has found a new enemy to fear: The Internet. It has every reason to be frightened.
Pro-Kremlin lawyer Ilya Remeslo, a man previously known for his harsh critiques of democratic activists and his unwavering support for the war in Ukraine, recently made a remarkable about-face on the messaging app Telegram.
Suddenly, Mr. Remeslo condemned Vladimir Putin for starting the unjust war in Ukraine, bankrupting Russia and destroying media freedom. He even called the president an illegitimate leader who should be “brought to justice as a war criminal and thief” in a manifesto titled “Five reasons why I stopped supporting Vladimir Putin.”
Like so many who openly criticize government policy, Mr. Remeslo swiftly checked himself into a psychiatric hospital—a rather convenient alternative to accidentally falling out of a twelfth-story window or down ten flights of stairs.
His sudden burst of honesty must have unsettled the Kremlin. The incident called to mind the case of Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin, who, in June 2023, took to Telegram to condemn Russia’s generals before his ill-fated mutiny that resulted in his death.
A Nation Plunged into Digital Darkness
Like all insecure regimes, the Kremlin is terrified that such digital unrest might spread. Thus, Russia is blocking the Internet across entire regions, throttling messaging services like Telegram and WhatsApp, and dismantling dozens of virtual private networks built to bypass state censorship.
Mobile internet has vanished in parts of central Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major hubs. The government partly blames these blackouts on foreign tech companies refusing to comply with Russian laws, and partly on the genuine threat of Ukrainian attack drones that frequently use cellular networks to navigate.
Absolute Control Reveals Profound Weakness
Russia’s online crackdown is backed by new, draconian laws. Mobile providers are now legally required to disconnect users at the simple request of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the former KGB.
Diplomats speaking anonymously reveal the broader goal: The Kremlin is desperately trying to shore up domestic control as the war in Ukraine remains in a quagmire. If the war ends, the government wants the infrastructure in place to crush the coming wave of dissent. Moscow is carefully developing the tools for a broad digital crackdown.
The Economic and Social Toll
For everyday Muscovites, the restrictions are more than just annoying; they are financially devastating. Modern life depends on mobile Internet. Couriers, taxis and retail stores have come to a standstill. Cashless payment terminals in cafes fail, and even public restrooms became unavailable because the digital charge cannot be processed. In just the first five days of the shutdown, city businesses lost an estimated $38 to $64 billion.
When the internet finally flickered back to life, the head of the largest digital services provider in Russia, Rostelecom, Mikhail Oseevsky, urged Russians to switch back to landline phones, claiming demand was surging. The independent media outlet Meduza surveyed 50,000 customers and found the reality to be slightly different—only a meager 2 percent actually considered stepping back into the nineties.
The War on Telegram and the Ghost of 1991
The Kremlin has long targeted the cloud-based messaging app Telegram on both mobile and desktop platforms. The app remained largely accessible to about 93.6 million Russians until recently. Now, it faces frequent blocks and nationwide slowdowns. Completely shutting down Telegram, however, is a risky move.
As the Moscow Times highlighted, the app is a crucial lifeline. It functions as a news hub, a government communication tool, a frontline military resource and an essential element for businesses. Replacing it with the state-backed “Max” messenger is a hard sell. Cyber experts describe Max as “unsecure by design to serve its purpose: people surveillance.” Unsurprisingly, over 80 percent of Russian teenagers are furious about the restrictions, while adults quietly seethe.
The Kremlin’s paranoia has deep historical roots. The disastrous conclusion of the Soviet war in Afghanistan in 1989 sparked a wave of social chaos and lawlessness, leading to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today’s security agencies vividly remember the failure of communism that led to its collapse.
They are desperately trying to create a system that, regardless of how the current war against Ukraine concludes, prevents another complete collapse. They have carefully studied the authoritarian strategies of regimes like China and Iran, and plan to block large parts of the Internet while spying on online messages.
Reality Contradicts Propaganda
Vladimir Putin recently called for tightening government control over the “information and digital space,” framing it as a necessary defense against Western efforts to sow discord.
The crackdown has been severe. Over 400 VPNs have been blocked. WhatsApp has been completely banned, which Meta calls a major step backward. Even the founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, is being investigated under false terrorism charges.
While the authorities aggressively suppress the growing public unrest, arresting peaceful protesters and citing outdated COVID-19 rules to ban rallies, the anger keeps mounting. The Kremlin is alienating an entire generation and creating discontent. The continued resistance of Ukraine to Russian aggression is having an unexpected effect of forcing Russia to take these measures. It could well lead to another collapse.
Photo Credit: © Julia Shepeleva – stock.adobe.com