Since the beginning of March 2026, residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and many other Russian cities have been facing severe internet access restrictions. The effects are noticeable in daily life: impossible payments in stores, taxis getting lost without GPS, disrupted work in companies… At the same time, several major digital services, including Yandex and VKontakte, have started blocking or limiting access for internet users connecting via a VPN, in accordance with government directives.
Internet Cuts and App Blocking
Since spring 2025, the authorities have increasingly resorted to interruptions in mobile internet, officially justified by the fight against drone attacks. More recently, Moscow has gone further by limiting the use of popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, accused of not complying with Russian legal framework. Alongside this, the Kremlin is promoting a national alternative: MAX, a messaging app presented as “100% Russian.” But the lack of end-to-end encryption raises concerns about potential surveillance by the FSB.
Taken together, these measures outline a coherent strategy: to regain control over the last spaces of freedom within a deeply digitized society. This dynamic goes beyond technology; it is part of a war waged by the state against its own society, using a wide range of legal, security, digital, social, and cultural tools.
Interstices of Political Expression
However, the expression of discontent has not completely disappeared. Telegram loops remain an important information channel where anger and frustrations are expressed. But this speech remains strictly controlled: it is tolerated as long as it remains local and spares both the war and the image of Vladimir Putin, who must always appear as the ultimate protector.
The video of influencer Viktoria Bonya illustrates this implicit framework well: denouncing inflation, internet cuts, or environmental disasters, she avoided attacking the president directly, instead targeting his entourage.
This society of avoidance is based on intentionally vague repression. The permanent legal insecurity fuels fear: no one knows exactly where the red line is, nor when it will be crossed. In this context, self-censorship becomes a survival reflex.
In further discussion, how do Russians manage to socialize outside the framework imposed by the state? What spaces—local, digital, social—still allow the expression of disagreement, even if limited? Do we witness the lasting annihilation of any dissenting voice? Can the intentional degradation of internet access become a factor of rupture between power and society?
Julie Gacon speaks with Francoise Daucé, a political sociologist, Director of Studies at the EHESS, and member of the Center for Russian, Caucasian, East European, and Central Asian Studies (CERCEC), and Paul Gogo, an independent journalist.
