Thousands of children with diabetes lose parental glucose monitoring due to internet shutdowns in Russia

By Maria Blokhina.

Constant mobile internet shutdowns in Russia have left parents of children with Type 1 diabetes unable to remotely monitor their children’s blood glucose levels. On Nov. 11, mobile internet blackouts were recorded in 55 regions across the country. In 41 of them, authorities simultaneously implemented so-called “whitelists,” which allow access only to approved websites and applications — but glucose monitoring systems were not included.

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices alert patients when blood sugar levels become dangerously high or low, helping prevent hypoglycemia, a critical drop in glucose that can lead to coma or even death.

The effect on children

As one commenter wrote on the official VK social media page of Russian state internet regulator Roskomnadzor: “By shutting off the internet, you deprive children with diabetes of a normal life!!! Parents of diabetic children use apps to monitor their kids’ glucose levels when they’re at school or kindergarten — that’s impossible without the internet. Small children can’t yet manage their blood sugar on their own! Add diabetes apps to the whitelist!!!”

Meanwhile, messages shared in the chat of the “Diaresource” organization reflected similar frustration:

“Where can we write to ask that when they shut off the internet, they make exceptions for diabetes apps? When they shut it down in Korolyov, Yandex Taxi and RuTube keep working, but the diabetes apps don’t. LibreView is clearly more important than RuTube,” wrote one user of the FreeStyle Libre CGM system.

“Two hours after lunch, my child barely makes it home with a blood sugar level of 2.5. Luckily, dad works from home. During the day the internet is jammed, so we don’t receive the glucose data,” another parent said.

Anna from Saratov, the mother of a child with Type 1 diabetes, told The Insider she has faced similar problems for months:

“Since around August, it’s been impossible to track my son’s glucose remotely, even when his phone shows mobile internet is on. As soon as one of us leaves the Wi-Fi zone, we lose remote control. The only option is to connect to the school’s Wi-Fi by special permission — but not all principals understand the situation or allow it. It’s a huge inconvenience. A diabetic child’s life and health are at risk. These technologies were created in the 21st century, and yet we’ve been deprived of them!”

According to Anna, many parents of diabetic children are now collecting signatures for an appeal to Roskomnadzor demanding that glucose monitoring apps be added to the whitelist. But even that would not solve the issue, she said:

“First, the so-called whitelists work inconsistently. And second, even if they add them, it’ll only be official apps — while most diabetics using insulin pumps and ‘closed-loop’ systems rely on unofficial software like AAPS or xDrip. Those will never be approved, meaning our children will remain in danger.”

The effect on adults

Internet disruptions are far from the only problem facing diabetics in Russia. The situation with CGM supplies for adults is nearing a crisis, according to a report by the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia.

Yulia Pankova, head of the “Diaresource” project and national coordinator of the All-Russian Organization of Parents of Children with Disabilities, told the paper that at least eight regions in Russia — Moscow, the Ulyanovsk, Omsk, Oryol, Murmansk, Bryansk, and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as the Republic of Bashkortostan — are experiencing severe shortages of CGM devices.

Pankova said adult patients are routinely denied the sensors because the devices are not always included in the federal support program:

“Children and pregnant women receive CGM sensors funded by the federal budget under the national ‘Fight Against Diabetes’ program. But even there, issues persist. We recently surveyed 8,000 parents of children with diabetes, and nearly 60% said they sometimes had to buy sensors out of pocket.”

In Moscow, adult patients previously received CGM systems through medical commission decisions, but such commissions stopped meeting in March — reportedly following “verbal orders” from management.

“Patients are forced to buy life-saving medical devices on their own. It’s as if at 18, when a child becomes an adult, the government’s help vanishes [and] all previous efforts by the state, patients, and their families go to waste.”

According to Diaresource, there are also growing problems with the procurement of insulin, test strips, and insulin pump supplies.

In September, the Moscow Diabetic Association reported that more than 7,000 patients who previously received CGM systems and have a documented medical need were recently denied approval by medical commissions. Among them are 5,200 patients with Type 1 diabetes and 1,800 with Type 2 diabetes who had been authorized for individual purchases of CGM systems for 2025 but have not received them.

Nikolay Bespalov, executive director of the analytics company RNC Pharma, told The Insider that supply failures may stem from procurement issues in regional health systems. “Regions may miscalculate their needs or fail to conduct tenders on time,” he said, adding that companies may also skip auctions due to unrealistically low contract price caps.

In Moscow, patients have filed complaints with the Investigative Committee and sent the organization a collective petition. Izvestia reported that the Investigative Committee opened a criminal negligence case on Sept. 23, but the decision to launch the case was revoked the same day.

Last week, The Insider also reported that patients with chronic kidney disease in 10 Russian regions are not receiving vital medications on time.

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