Translated material
Telegram blocking in the Russian Federation has reached its all-time maximum
Blocking of the Telegram messenger in Russia has reached an all-time high, according to projects that track blocking in real time, based on user data.
As the Agency writes with reference to the OONI project, when logging into Telegram on the morning of April 10, the level of anomalies reached 95%. The publication notes that the messenger is blocked more strongly than WhatsApp and Signal, which are officially blocked in Russia.
At the same time, as early as April 9, the level of Telegram anomalies was at the usual level of blocking in recent days.
Over the next 24 hours, the number of complaints on the specialized Downdetector service reached 2.6 thousand, the agency writes. User complaints come from different regions, including St. Petersburg and Moscow.
In Russia, back in 2022, a number of social networks were blocked. In 2025, amid the war with Ukraine, Russian authorities blocked calls to WhatsApp and Telegram under the pretext of protecting them from scammers. At the same time, the Max messenger began to be introduced in Russia, putting pressure on budget organizations.
In February, Roskomnadzor announced further restrictions on the activities of Telegram, accusing the messenger of violations of the law. The media reported that the authorities intend to completely block Telegram, the date given was April 1. The complete blocking of the messenger has not yet been officially announced. At the same time, its creator Pavel Durov, who lives abroad, said that the authorities are “inventing new pretexts to limit Russians’ access to Telegram” and called for “digital resistance,” promising that Telegram will develop measures to bypass blocking.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, speaking to reporters, suggested that the Russian authorities are blocking Telegram in order to make “unpopular decisions.” This could be either a decision to “end the war in one format or another” or, on the contrary, an escalation of the war associated with mobilization. “Soon we will see which scenario Putin chose,” Zelensky noted .
Radio Liberty news release:
Telegram blocking in the Russian Federation has reached its all-time maximum