Overview
- Local outlet Baza reported plans for a full nationwide block from April 1, a timeline Roskomnadzor has neither confirmed nor denied.
- Roskomnadzor says it has begun slowing Telegram services and warns of continued sequential restrictions unless the platform stores data in Russia and complies with domestic law.
- Digital development minister Maksut Shadayev claimed foreign intelligence services can access Telegram correspondence and said the platform ignored about 150,000 takedown requests for illegal content.
- Telegram’s own statistics show more than 7.463 million groups and channels blocked since January 1, including 238,800 on Feb. 15 and 187,300 on Feb. 16.
- Officials promote the state-backed Max messenger as users adopt VPNs and alternatives, following the recent removal of WhatsApp domains from Russia’s DNS.