MOSCOW, April 4 (Reuters) – Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of Telegram, stated on Saturday that Russia’s efforts to block Virtual Private Networks (VPN) have caused issues with a domestic payment system, noting that tens of millions of Russians are resisting digital controls.
Russia has consistently obstructed mobile internet access and has granted extensive powers to disrupt mass communications while interfering with messenger services and VPNs in what diplomats have described as a “significant crackdown”.
The technical issue that occurred on Friday, which Russia has not yet fully clarified, created confusion for some shoppers, leading the Moscow metro to permit entry without payment through its turnstiles, while a local zoo had to request that visitors use cash.
“Welcome back to the Digital Resistance, my Russian brothers and sisters,” Durov remarked on Telegram. “The entire nation is now mobilized to circumvent these ridiculous restrictions.”
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, acknowledged a technical problem on Friday but did not provide further details. Some Russian media outlets retracted reports suggesting that the outage was linked to state efforts to block specific websites or VPNs.
Russian officials assert that the crackdown on VPNs and messaging applications like WhatsApp and Telegram is crucial for security, as Moscow confronts lethal attacks deep within Russia from Ukraine and alleged sabotage attempts by Western intelligence agencies.
Russia has throttled Telegram, which boasts over 1 billion active users and is also extensively utilized in Ukraine, and has investigated Durov in a criminal case related to terrorism allegations.
Russian officials claimed that Telegram had been infiltrated by intelligence agencies from Ukraine and NATO member countries, asserting that Russian soldiers had lost their lives as a consequence.
Telegram has refuted such claims of infiltration, stating that Moscow is attempting to compel Russians to adopt MAX, a state-sponsored messaging application that schools and universities have been instructed to utilize.
The Kremlin’s push for such an application has caused discontent among some Russians, as reported by Reuters on Friday.
