A woman looks at her mobile phone in St Petersburg (Image: AP)
Russia is repeatedly cutting off mobile internet access across dozens of regions, triggering growing fears the Kremlin is using national security as cover for a sweeping crackdown on digital freedoms.
A spate of shutdowns — officially blamed on the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes — has left millions of Russians dealing with chaotic, unpredictable outages. While Vladimir Putin’s government insists the measures are temporary, critics warn they are becoming a new normal and could evolve into permanent digital controls. A viral video by Rostov-on-Don rapper Pavel Osipyan captured the public frustration. Pacing through the city with his phone in hand, he declares: “We have internet until 12 o’clock, and recently there’s been no connection at all.
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“No need to be angry. Just get used to it already.”
The clip, mocking life with barely one bar of mobile signal, has racked up more than 500,000 views in two weeks.
But it’s no joke for residents, many of whom have been unable to pay for groceries, hail taxis, or use online maps. Pharmacies in rural areas — where mobile data is often the only connection — have struggled to log prescriptions.
In the Belgorod region, close to the Ukrainian border, residents said they had to bang on metal rails to warn neighbours of incoming attacks because their alarm systems failed without internet.
The blackouts began in earnest in May during a military parade in Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later admitting mobile internet had been deliberately restricted due to drone threats. Since then, the tactic has spread far beyond the capital — even to regions hundreds of miles from the fighting.
Pedestrians look at their phones while walking through St. Petersburg, Russia, on Monday, July 14, 2 (Image: AP)
This week, digital rights group Na Svyazi (“Staying Connected”) reported mobile data shutdowns in 73 of Russia’s 80+ regions. In 41 of them, broadband networks were also affected. Some local officials have confirmed the restrictions are deliberate. The governor of Nizhny Novgorod, Gleb Nikitin, said mobile internet would stay down “as long as the threat remains2.
Peskov doubled down on Thursday, insisting: “Everything that has to do with ensuring the safety of citizens, everything is justified and everything is a priority.”
However, the shutdowns are neither limited to drone-prone areas nor clearly time-limited. Russians from Siberia to the Far East describe hours-long or even days-long outages, with no clear warning or pattern.
Natalia from Samara, who asked for her surname to be withheld, said: “It goes out at the most unpredictable moments.”
Her home Wi-Fi has also begun cutting out around 11pm nightly.
Tourists sitting near the Kremlin in Moscow look at their phones (Image: AP)
Grigori Khromov, based in Nizhny Novgorod, added: “I don’t feel any super strong discomfort.” But for small business owners and rural residents relying on mobile data for everything from logistics to medical access, the disruptions have nevertheless been significant.
Experts say the strategy gained momentum after Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb” in June, when drones launched from moving trucks struck deep inside Russia. Authorities reportedly panicked, realising attacks could come from virtually anywhere — and reacted by expanding internet blackouts.
According to Russian lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, who runs digital rights group Roskomsvoboda, the Kremlin’s tactics have now shifted: “They got really scared that drones may appear, like a jack-in-the-box, in any Russian region.”
Critics claim the government is using the drone threat to justify a broader digital clampdown. Anastasiya Zhyrmont of Access Now warned the public is being conditioned to accept these disruptions as routine. She said: “This shouldn’t be modern reality.”
Russia has already throttled YouTube, blocked Instagram and Twitter, and cracked down on VPNs. Now, a Kremlin-backed newspaper, Izvestia, reports officials are considering creating a new agency to co-ordinate internet shutdowns nationwide — a move digital rights groups fear could institutionalise online censorship.
Analysts say the endgame is clear, namely Chinese-style control of the internet.
Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, said: “The Kremlin failed to do this 20 years ago, but they’re getting closer now.”
What began as sporadic, localised disruptions during protests has now turned into a state-wide instrument of control — one the Kremlin can seemingly turn on and off at will.
Separately, migrants entering Moscow will soon be required to install a government-issued phone app that tracks their real-time location and transmits the data directly to police.
The pilot scheme, launching on September 1 and running until 2029, targets visa-free migrant workers and threatens removal from the migration registry or even deportation for those who fail to comply.
Human rights groups have warned the programme is invasive and sets a dangerous precedent for expanded state surveillance.