Overview
- Officials said the restriction will last for the duration of the war in Ukraine, marking the first permanent regional mobile blackout reported in the country.
- The order came from the federal center to expand security zones, and regional authorities said only Moscow can cancel it.
- Access is cut not only near strategic facilities but also in residential districts, office buildings and public institutions, with exact zones kept secret.
- A white list of permitted services such as Gosuslugi, Yandex, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Ozon, Wildberries and Mir has been touted, yet users report some of these do not work.
- Authorities urge wired connections and free public Wi‑Fi as alternatives, while Russia has seen frequent temporary mobile outages since May and the Kremlin has not commented.