Putin has effectively confirmed further internet blackouts in Russia

This was reported by “DS”, citing the Russian opposition publication “Agency”.

Putin made a statement at a Russian government meeting on Thursday, 23 April. He described the internet blackouts as “glitches in the internet” and made it clear that there were no plans to ease restrictions in this area for Russians.

The statement came a month and a half after widespread internet outages in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major Russian cities. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the Kremlin might ease internet restrictions due to public discontent.

Putin was responding to a report by the head of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Maksut Shadayev, on the communications situation in the regions. The Russian president stated that he could not ignore what Russians were facing even in major cities – “internet disruptions”.

“It doesn’t happen often, but, unfortunately, it does happen,” he said.

Putin linked such restrictions to the work of the security services. According to him, if internet shutdowns are related to operational measures to prevent terrorist attacks, the authorities will prioritise “ensuring people’s safety”.

“Of course, if this is linked to operational work to prevent terrorist acts – and we know that, unfortunately, we sometimes fail to prevent such attacks – naturally, ensuring the safety of people, our children, our loved ones, and every citizen of Russia will always be the priority,” stated the Russian President.

Putin went on to say that in such cases it is necessary to “ensure public awareness”. At the same time, he acknowledged that public warnings about restrictions issued in advance could hamper the operational work of the security services.

“Although I understand that when operational work is underway to prevent criminal acts and terrorist attacks, in this case, widely informing the public in advance could harm the operational investigation,” said Putin.

He added that in such a situation, information should be provided “at least on the results of the operation”.

The Russian President also stressed the need for coordination between law enforcement agencies and civilian authorities. He expressed the hope that law enforcement agencies “will demonstrate the necessary ingenuity in their work” and take into account “the vital interests of the country’s citizens, for whom we are all working”.

Separately, Putin instructed officials to “work out a mechanism for the uninterrupted operation of life-support services”.

“Today, as we know, even on mobile phones, emergency calls are available to users even if there are no funds in their accounts. In the case of mobile internet, we need to organise things in the same way,” he said.

According to the Russian president, Russians must have uninterrupted access to the government services portal, payment systems and doctor’s appointment booking services. In effect, he described the ‘whitelist’ mechanism, which has already begun to be implemented.

Prior to this, Putin had not publicly commented on internet issues following the large-scale shutdown in Moscow in early March. At the end of March, at a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, its chairman Alexander Shokhin complained in Putin’s presence about problems caused by mobile internet restrictions, but the Russian president did not react at the time.

The Financial Times, citing a knowledgeable source, reported that during a closed-door session with representatives of big business the week before last, Putin cited attacks by Ukrainian drones as one of the reasons for the widespread internet outages in Moscow and other regions of Russia.

The internet blackouts, along with the blocking of Telegram, sparked heated debate within Russia’s pro-government circles. They were criticised by pro-government bloggers, certain public figures and pro-government publications.

Russians’ dissatisfaction with internet restrictions has become one of the reasons for a significant drop in the approval ratings of the Russian authorities and Putin himself in polls. In mid-April, Bloomberg reported that due to Putin’s falling approval ratings, the Kremlin might ease internet restrictions.

As reported by ThePublic, Russia was recruiting children for terrorist attacks in schools: the police and the SBU exposed two teenagers.

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