Russia’s government is tightening its internet control, with widespread outages and restrictions already defining 2025 for its citizens. These pervasive measures are impacting daily life, from public transport to critical health monitoring.
The impact is profound: credit cards fail for public transport, ATMs disconnect, and messaging apps are down. Mobile phones often lose texts and data after international travel, and mothers of diabetic children report being unable to monitor blood glucose levels during outages.
For months, mobile phone internet shutdowns have affected dozens of Russian regions, ostensibly thwarting Ukrainian drone attacks. Popular messaging apps are also restricted, with the government promoting a state-controlled alternative critics fear is a surveillance tool.
Although broadband and Wi-Fi internet access remain unaffected, Russians contacted by The Associated Press described digital disruptions to their daily lives. All spoke anonymously for safety.
Widespread cellphone internet shutdowns began in May and persisted through summer and into the fall. In November, 57 Russian regions on average reported daily disruptions to cellphone links, according to Na Svyazi, an activist group monitoring shutdowns.
Authorities say these outages are designed to prevent Ukrainian drones from tapping mobile networks for navigation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they are “absolutely justified and necessary,” but analyst Kateryna Stepanenko of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said they haven’t been effective in curbing the intensity of Ukraine’s drone attacks, “given the amount of strikes we’ve seen in recent months on Russian oil refineries.”
In many regions, only a handful of government-approved Russian websites and online services — designated as being on “white lists” — are available during connectivity blackouts.
What’s available on the “white lists” varies by provider and includes official websites, email and social media platforms, two online markets, and the Russian search engine Yandex and its services. One provider offers access to a banking app, but others don’t. Authorities have promised to expand the lists.
Marina, who lives in the Pacific coast city of Vladivostok, described her anxiety when she discovered only one app for a government-controlled bank was working during a mobile internet outage and she wondered what this meant for the future.
“For me, this is the scariest thing,” she said. “The loss of information, the loss of freedom, essentially, is the most depressing thing for me.”
In the Volga River city of Ulyanovsk, about 700 kilometers (435 miles) east of Moscow, one resident described how his credit card didn’t work when he tapped it on the payment terminal on a tram during an outage. He wasn’t carrying enough cash.
Families with diabetic children say they can’t monitor their children’s glucose levels via special apps when they are at school and cellphone internet is down. Mothers in social media posts explain that children often can miss the moment when their blood sugar levels change, requiring an intervention, and special apps allowed parents to see that remotely and warn them. Connection outages disrupt that.
Authorities have tried touting the joys of reconnecting with a technology-free lifestyle.
