Overview
- Russia’s digital ministry said mobile operators launched the mechanism at regulators’ request and are running it in a test phase.
- The measure applies when a Russian SIM returns from international roaming or when the card has been inactive for 72 hours.
- During the 24-hour cooling period, mobile internet and SMS are temporarily unavailable on affected SIM cards.
- Users can immediately restore service by following an operator link with a captcha or by calling a support center for phone-based identification.
- The rollout follows an August proposal by Minister Maksut Shadayev to limit access for SIM cards entering Russia as a counter‑UAV step.