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Petitioners brave surveillance outside Kremlin
A small crowd gathered outside Moscow's presidential administration building on Friday to deliver formal appeals urging President Vladimir Putin to roll back sweeping internet restrictions. Security personnel filmed the group from across the street, underscoring the risks of public dissent in an increasingly controlled digital landscape.
Businesses bear brunt of cyber clampdown
Yulia, a catering entrepreneur in the queue, described how intermittent blackouts and blocked messaging apps have crippled her operations. "Our website vanished for days. No orders, no revenue," she said. "Every outage costs us customers."
State regulators cite national security to justify the disruptions, claiming mobile shutdowns disrupt Ukrainian drone strikes. Yet attacks persist in areas with severed connections, and critics dismiss the explanation as pretext for broader censorship.
Digital 'Iron Curtain' divides Russia from global web
Officials are accelerating a "sovereign internet" project, promoting the state-backed MAX messenger while throttling access to WhatsApp, Telegram, and VPNs. Independent news sites and Google searches frequently fail to load, leaving only government-approved platforms functional on mobile devices.
"The idea is to isolate Russia from the outside world, which they believe poisons Russian minds,"
Andrei Kolesnikov, columnist for Novaya Gazeta
Public skepticism runs deep. "People suspect MAX exists to monitor our messages," said former lawmaker Boris Nadezhdin, who once challenged Putin in elections.
Protests stifled, daily life disrupted
Activist Yulia Grekova attempted to organize a rally in Vladimir, 190 km east of Moscow, but authorities rejected all 11 proposed venues, citing street cleaning, drone threats, and even a roller-skating event. Police later visited her workplace to film her signing a prosecutor's warning.
Ordinary Russians report mounting frustrations. "I couldn't pay for petrol today. My satnav keeps freezing," said Denis, a driver. Small business owners, reliant on digital payments and logistics, face the heaviest losses.
Putin acknowledges disruptions, offers no relief
In a Thursday statement, Putin attributed internet outages to "operational work to prevent terrorist attacks" but ordered officials to minimize disruptions to essential services. His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, framed the restrictions as temporary security measures, insisting most citizens accept their necessity.
Recent polls show Putin's approval ratings at their lowest since the 2022 Ukraine invasion, driven by economic strain, war fatigue, and the digital crackdown. "People now link everyday problems-healthcare, food prices, internet-to Putin's policies," Nadezhdin said.
Adaptation replaces hope for change
Yulia, the caterer, remains uncertain her petition will succeed. "Russians adapt," she said, citing her family's history of surviving Soviet repression and the 1990s economic collapse. "We focus on the next week, not the future. The oven's timer is set for 30 minutes-that's our horizon."
Maria, a young mother in Vladimir, echoed the sentiment. "Before the internet, life felt brighter because we knew less," she said. "Now, I avoid news about the war. We're exhausted by death."
"It feels like we're sliding back to the past."
Yulia Grekova, activist
