According to Runet Monitor, which tracks the state of connectivity in Russia, 57 regions across the country reported mobile internet cuts Tuesday, and on any given day, dozens of areas are affected. Authorities have justified the cuts as a way to avert attacks by Ukrainian drones, which have been known to use local mobile networks for guidance. One Russian region, Ulyanovsk, home to military-linked factories, said this week that mobile data would be blocked until the end of the war.
The constant cuts in mobile internet are the latest way Russia’s population is feeling the effects of nearly four years of full-scale war with Ukraine, but also come on top of measures to restrict Russia’s internet and convert a once-raucous online world into what many are calling a “digital gulag,” as repressive as those in China or Iran.
Residents in St. Petersburg said the restrictions can cause chaos, scrambling taxis and transport and stopping card machines, but war-fatigued Russians have learned to shrug and get on with things, adapting to a world that is often without the online conveniences so many other countries take for granted.
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The bans began with Facebook and Instagram after the 2022 invasion and moved on to throttling the very popular YouTube starting in the summer of 2024, then this past August restricting WhatsApp and Telegram calls.
“Of course, people are mad. They are not happy with what’s happening with the internet,” said Mikhail Klimarev, Berlin-based executive director of the Internet Protection Society. “People are very unhappy and infuriated. But people will not protest, just because it makes no sense. If you do, you will be beaten up and then you will be put in jail.”
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Another way Nadezhdin copes is by carrying several phones, because “in some regions, one operator’s connection is better, and in others, a different operator’s connection is better.” It also gives him a way of dealing with the increasingly mandatory state-controlled national messaging app, Max. The service has no end-to-end encryption but is needed to access any state service, so he restricts the app to just one phone.
“Max has a very bad reputation. People say that with the help of Max, the authorities can follow you, can see what you write, can listen to what you say,” he said.
The government, meanwhile, said Wednesday that all the building chat groups that residents use to communicate must be transferred to Max by year’s end. There are an estimated million such chat groups among the tenants of all the apartment buildings in the country.
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In the past, Russia implemented “black bans” — blocking thousands of websites associated with opposition figures, activists or other unapproved activity, according to a July report by Human Rights Watch. Now Russia is increasingly shifting to “white lists” — strictly limited lists of government-approved sites that Russians may access, with other sites blocked.
The next step could be banning virtual private networks, or VPNs, which can be used to bypass restrictions on internet and individual sites. Individual VPNs have been blocked, and advertising them is illegal, but there is not yet a blanket ban.
This is on purpose. Russia has worked like this for a thousand years or more. It's a kind of learned helplessness, but taught to the people by the ruler.
“People are very unhappy and infuriated. But people will not protest, just because it makes no sense. If you do, you will be beaten up and then you will be put in jail.”
This is on purpose. Russia has worked like this for a thousand years or more. It's a kind of learned helplessness, but taught to the people by the ruler.
One person’s learned helplessness may be another person’s survival instinct. After all, you’re right that this is not a recent experience, and at a population level, I feel like you’ll eventually...
One person’s learned helplessness may be another person’s survival instinct. After all, you’re right that this is not a recent experience, and at a population level, I feel like you’ll eventually see survival-of-the-shruggiest (to borrow words from the article), because the individuals and families who are inclined to kick up a fuss or fight for their freedoms are less likely to continue growing the family tree if they end up being disappeared.
Yep, this is it exactly. Since the time of the Tsars they've specifically ... trained? ... the population to be ambivalent about everything. During Stalin/Lenin times it was actually dangerous to...
Yep, this is it exactly. Since the time of the Tsars they've specifically ... trained? ... the population to be ambivalent about everything.
During Stalin/Lenin times it was actually dangerous to talk about your true opinions openly. The whole concept of Pravda vs Istina (Public truth vs Private truth) started in the 1800s (19th century in American =P) and really got into gear during the Soviet time.
Pravda was the "official truth" that everyone knew was completely, mostly or partially bullshit - but saying anything else in public was heavily disincentivised (you might just disappear). This is also why all public statements from Russia today immediately sound like lies to non-Russians. Because they are. They are Pravda to the Ruskiy Mir, pure propaganda.
So... you speak Pravda in public an Istina only with people you really trust.
To the best of my knowledge the majority of modern-day Russians just don't think about it. It's easier to just not care about anything and not even comment on anything volatile than keep tabs on what is the official truth at the moment. And Putin tries to keep it that way by doing everything in his power to keep things running as normally as possible, when stores start running out of food and gas pumps run dry, people start asking questions. And in Russian history those times usually end with someone shot in a basement =)
Tbf there were protests in the big cities early on when they weren’t even directly affected by the war. With Ukraine attacking Moscow now, wouldn’t the likelihood of protests get way higher?
Tbf there were protests in the big cities early on when they weren’t even directly affected by the war. With Ukraine attacking Moscow now, wouldn’t the likelihood of protests get way higher?
"Discrediting" the armed forces or providing "unreliable information" about their operations is illegal in Russia since 3/2022. (Federal laws 31-FZ and 32-FZ) So if you say the war is going badly,...
"Discrediting" the armed forces or providing "unreliable information" about their operations is illegal in Russia since 3/2022. (Federal laws 31-FZ and 32-FZ)
So if you say the war is going badly, you might be doing both. The army is officially <charliesheen>Winning</charliesheen> and their operations are going exactly as planned. IIRC even calling it a "war" is illegal =) -> Hello jail cell for up to 15 years.
That switch from black lists to white lists is what I always think about when people claim that everything on the internet can be easily bypassed. Liberal governments choose to let those loopholes...
That switch from black lists to white lists is what I always think about when people claim that everything on the internet can be easily bypassed. Liberal governments choose to let those loopholes open. They don’t have to.
We already have a situation where, even without enforcement, people spend their time on the internet on like 5 websites, increasingly apps.
The idea of a sprawling, adapting internet that is somehow resistant to censorship is naive.
From the article:
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This is on purpose. Russia has worked like this for a thousand years or more. It's a kind of learned helplessness, but taught to the people by the ruler.
One person’s learned helplessness may be another person’s survival instinct. After all, you’re right that this is not a recent experience, and at a population level, I feel like you’ll eventually see survival-of-the-shruggiest (to borrow words from the article), because the individuals and families who are inclined to kick up a fuss or fight for their freedoms are less likely to continue growing the family tree if they end up being disappeared.
Yep, this is it exactly. Since the time of the Tsars they've specifically ... trained? ... the population to be ambivalent about everything.
During Stalin/Lenin times it was actually dangerous to talk about your true opinions openly. The whole concept of Pravda vs Istina (Public truth vs Private truth) started in the 1800s (19th century in American =P) and really got into gear during the Soviet time.
Pravda was the "official truth" that everyone knew was completely, mostly or partially bullshit - but saying anything else in public was heavily disincentivised (you might just disappear). This is also why all public statements from Russia today immediately sound like lies to non-Russians. Because they are. They are Pravda to the Ruskiy Mir, pure propaganda.
So... you speak Pravda in public an Istina only with people you really trust.
To the best of my knowledge the majority of modern-day Russians just don't think about it. It's easier to just not care about anything and not even comment on anything volatile than keep tabs on what is the official truth at the moment. And Putin tries to keep it that way by doing everything in his power to keep things running as normally as possible, when stores start running out of food and gas pumps run dry, people start asking questions. And in Russian history those times usually end with someone shot in a basement =)
Took a while to get at this point though. Nicky's incompetence was tolerated far too long.
There are also a lot of people who leave Russia for one reason or another. It's a drastic step, but seems like a good move if you can manage it.
Tbf there were protests in the big cities early on when they weren’t even directly affected by the war. With Ukraine attacking Moscow now, wouldn’t the likelihood of protests get way higher?
"Discrediting" the armed forces or providing "unreliable information" about their operations is illegal in Russia since 3/2022. (Federal laws 31-FZ and 32-FZ)
So if you say the war is going badly, you might be doing both. The army is officially <charliesheen>Winning</charliesheen> and their operations are going exactly as planned. IIRC even calling it a "war" is illegal =) -> Hello jail cell for up to 15 years.
That switch from black lists to white lists is what I always think about when people claim that everything on the internet can be easily bypassed. Liberal governments choose to let those loopholes open. They don’t have to.
We already have a situation where, even without enforcement, people spend their time on the internet on like 5 websites, increasingly apps.
The idea of a sprawling, adapting internet that is somehow resistant to censorship is naive.
Mirror: https://archive.is/uHnvK