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Russia, particularly its capital Moscow, has been grappling with an unexpected digital crisis as mobile internet and communication services experienced severe disruptions. Once lauded as the "most digital city in the world," Moscow and its residents found themselves abruptly offline, turning the simple phrase "I am connected" into a symbol of rare luxury.

Widespread Outages Grip the Capital

Throughout March, complaints surged across numerous Russian regions, including Moscow, regarding the disconnection of mobile internet. Subscribers of major operators like MTS, Tele2, Yota, MegaFon, and Beeline reported significant drops in speed and unstable connections. This widespread issue rendered essential online services, navigation apps, car-sharing platforms, and messaging services unusable for many.

While the Russian Ministry of Defense reported neutralizing over 280 drones targeting Moscow in a single day, residents noted that internet and communication issues persisted even on days without drone activity, suggesting other underlying causes.

New Legislation and Its Ramifications

One of the primary factors cited for these disruptions is recent amendments to the "On Communications" law. The new legislation mandates that telecom operators must fully disable communications upon the request of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and law enforcement agencies. Crucially, subscribers are stripped of their right to appeal such actions or seek legal recourse against the operators. This law was passed by the State Duma on February 17 and came into effect on March 2.

Alexander Yushchenko, a member of the State Duma's Information Policy, IT, and Communications Committee, expressed surprise at the situation, noting that even deputies experienced communication blackouts. He indicated that the law's proponents had initially emphasized its necessity for border regions with Ukraine.

Deputies Navigate a "Paper" World

The communication crisis also presented unique challenges for State Duma deputies. With mobile internet and Wi-Fi unavailable, they were compelled to resort to paper directories and in-person meetings to communicate. Although wired internet connections remained functional on their computers, access to many online services was cut off.

According to Deputy Andrei Svintsov, Roskomnadzor may completely block all VPN traffic within the next 3-6 months, potentially impacting services like Telegram.

The "Whitelist" Reality

Authorities had previously announced that access to a "whitelist" of Russian-approved websites would be maintained during mobile internet restrictions. However, reports of these whitelisted resources also failing to function have become increasingly common. Moscow residents have complained about slowdowns even on services like "Max" and music applications, which are supposedly on the whitelist.

The lack of reliable communication has also raised health concerns, with reports of individuals being unable to call for emergency services. Furthermore, residents faced penalties for late payments as they could not complete transactions through banking applications.

A Return to the Past: Pagers and Payphones

In response to the communication breakdown, Russians have seen a surge in demand for walkie-talkies, landline phones, and even pagers. Sales of pagers increased by 73%, and walkie-talkies by 27%. The prices for routers with built-in VPN capabilities also nearly doubled.

However, experts point out the anachronism of pagers, as no companies in Russia currently offer such services. Demand for paper city maps has also risen. The State Duma has even proposed the return of payphones, a relic of the 1990s, to address the communication crisis.

Denis Kuskov, head of the TelecomDaily agency, emphasized that this situation is not an isolated incident but a new reality for Russian telecommunications. He warned that disruptions to internet and mobile connectivity are likely to become a recurring issue in various regions across the country.