Zero percent acceptance, zero percent understanding

Moscow authorities introduced a shutdown during the parade. How did Muscovites react to this?

On the morning of May 9, mobile Internet was turned off in the center of Moscow. The Ministry of Digital Development noted that this was necessary “to ensure the security of festive events” - this wording probably meant that the security forces wanted to prevent possible drone strikes on Red Square, where Vladimir Putin was hosting the parade. The previous large-scale shutdown of mobile Internet occurred on May 5, the day of one of the parade rehearsals on Red Square. Meduza asked readers from Moscow how they spent that day and what they thought about the local shutdown in the capital.

Ilya

lives in Sviblovo

It was cloudy, quite cold, there weren’t many people on the streets, and I didn’t notice anyone in a festive mood. I remembered my two grandfathers - who fought, but did not remember the war.

In the morning my wife and I went to the Chistye Prudy area (Mira Avenue, Garden Ring, Myasnitskaya). It was striking that there was very little symbolism, not even flags were hung on all the houses. Compared to the scale of last year, they seem to be ashamed. Previously, there was a reason to rattle weapons, now May 9 is becoming a burden, and this is very noticeable.

[Internet shutdown] compared to the horrors of war is a small thing.

Danil

lives in Timiryazevsky district

I slept well and didn’t encounter any difficulties at all on May 9th.

Yana

lives in the Tsaritsyno area

There is no feeling of celebration at all. There was a disgusting feeling that again the government of this country would deceive [violate the termsof the truce ] and begin to fire missiles and drones at Ukraine right on May 9th. Hopelessness, poverty and debt weigh heavily on the soul.

I made an appointment with the veterinarian during the day, and traveled by bus with my sick pet for two hours around the city, passing the center, and back for the same amount of time. I put money on a transport card in advance, studied the route and downloaded offline maps. 2GIS worked all the time.

From the window I saw a column of cars with flags, some people with St. George ribbons at a bus stop, cadets in full dress uniform. All this is like in a parallel world. It’s as if I’m watching from the outside or, conversely, I’m inside a glass ball and can’t get out.

I'm sure it will be even worse. In general, everything will be turned off, because his [Putin’s] children have grown up enough, and he does not want to let them into the network. Now there are only flowers.

Margarita

lives in Ramenki

I didn’t encounter any difficulties because I was sitting at home and writing a big project.

Honestly, [the shutdown] is a very bad decision. I was afraid that they would introduce white lists on Wi-Fi, and then writing the project would stop (for example, I use official Intel documentation, which is not in the white lists). In general, I regard Internet restrictions as insanity.

Oleksey

lives in Orekhovo-Borisovo

We will not celebrate after 2022.

At 11 I woke up, mobile Internet was already available. I looked at the photos on the telegram to see if the flamingos had arrived at the parade and went about my business. Everything is as usual.

[Internet outage] is gone. Each family member has three different ones. In general, it’s normal, we watch YouTube, everything works with VPN. But it’s annoying that one thing or another falls off. We have to look for workarounds.

It's afraid. You need to understand this and simply bypass all the blockages. We are waiting for them all to die.

Artem

[The Internet] doesn't work outside, but overall it's ok. It's better than getting a drone into your home.

Lion

I celebrate with cakes and tea.

Muscovites are constantly faced with blockages; it is even impossible to pay for parking. I can't handle it when cell service goes out completely. But [when they don’t turn off] my Internet works through a VPN.

Restricting the freedom of citizens is a useless measure. Drones can fly without cellular coverage. The closer the collapse of the empire, the crazier its laws.

Amelia

lives in Basmanny district

Congratulated relatives who survived the war. I myself consider May 9 not a holiday, but a day of mourning. I’m ashamed of what the date was turned into, how it was vulgarized. It hurts that we have lost that clear sky above our heads for which our ancestors fought. It’s shameful, regrettable, bitter and insulting that we can’t do anything about it

When shutdowns (not white lists, which are very easy to bypass, but full-fledged shutdowns) occur on weekdays, we students experience difficulties. We can’t communicate with each other promptly, it’s difficult. It wasn’t difficult to endure a three-hour shutdown on the weekend - there was something to do without the Internet. It was scary that the measures would be stronger.

[Shutdowns are] a tool of propaganda, intimidation of people, pressure on them. If something bad and terrible happened, [without the Internet] we would not know about it. "Divide and conquer." Terrible.

Timofey

lives in Khovrin

I don't celebrate May 9th. I consider it the most disgusting and hypocritical holiday in the world. I would like to add “in its current iteration.” But in fact, not only that.

There were no difficulties [with the Internet] at all! Really! I'm even surprised. Even the navigator worked. I didn't expect this. A few days ago, during preparation, everything was much worse.

I think that the authorities are pissing at every sneeze. At the same time, it is not clear what they are pissing on: the population is obedient, brainwashed slaves, or simply conflict-free (thanks to the liberals, who have been inspiring us for so many years that Russians are not capable of anything). Everything is quiet and peaceful. But no, you turned off the Internet. For some reason. Idiots.

Catherine

lives in the Airport area

I don't mark it. I work in a store, there are almost no customers. Everyone has moved away, apparently, and people don’t have much money now.

The day before I stocked up on cash in rubles. In Vkusville, the self-service cash registers were not working in the morning; at the regular cash register we were able to buy water for cash. But in the cafe I was able to pay with a card. Mobile Internet and SMS did not work until one o'clock in the afternoon.

[I think about Internet outages] the same way as everyone around me. How crazy they were! The salesman in the store, who was breaking the water for me, said: “What’s going on? Probably, the earth will soon spit us out..."

Anton

lives on Shabolovka

I didn’t celebrate it at all today. I went out in the morning for a standard Saturday jog through Neskuchny Garden, Vorobyovskaya Embankment, to Moscow State University through Kosygin - there were few people, but quite a lot of police.

Today the shutdown did not bother me in any way - it was short. And so - well, yes, you rely mainly on Wi-Fi points, and not on the mobile Internet.

Now I don’t think anything [about shutdowns], it was more annoying at the beginning of March. But it is a shame and a farce that in the fifth year of the war, all that the authorities have achieved with it is their fear of Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow.

Julia

lives in Koptevo

Did you celebrate May 9? Tell us briefly - how exactly

In the evening we’ll have a drink over dinner and remember our grandfather, who was in Hitler’s captivity. All.

Today and yesterday everything is fine [with the Internet]. At home, everything works via wired Internet, VPN and proxy. I didn't go outside today.

The shutdown is hellish stupidity, of course. Hopefully Swan Lake is just around the corner. There is no strength anymore.

Alexandra

lives in Donskoy district

I slept off and woke up at 12:00. The Internet has already been turned on.

There is no point in turning it off. It just makes people angry.

Evgeniy

After 2022, celebrating Victory Day is simply a shame. A fascist country celebrates victory over fascism. Both sad and funny.

The mobile Internet was turned off in the morning, but by 11 o'clock it was already working.

Putin is afraid to show the weakness of the Russian army, afraid for his own skin, afraid that everyone will understand who he really is. It’s only because of his fears that the Internet is turned off, I don’t see any other reasons.

Vasya

lives in JSC

He remembered his great-grandfather with a kind word and drew a peace sign in a crowded place. I don't note the rest.

Friends said that the mobile Internet worked all this time. I pumped up the music and spent 4.5 hours having a blast. The emptiness on the street and in transport lifted my spirits.

Shutting down is a useless initiative, like all other ideas.

Nikita

lives in Beskudnikovo

If earlier I simply regarded this as a holiday not for me (they march and drive around somewhere, well, so be it), now it irritates me.

I needed to receive an SMS to pay for my subscription at work. And in order to [accurately] receive it, I had to go to the Moscow region ( Moscow authorities warned about possible problems with receiving SMS - Meduza’s note ). Fortunately, I needed to take winter tires along the way. But the very fact that I need to go out of town to receive a text message causes mixed, hysterical feelings.

For me, the official arguments about drone protection don't even pass the logical test. Drones don’t care about Russian SIM cards and SMS.

Anonymous

lives in Kuzminki

We don't celebrate. What to celebrate? The grandfather was alive, they congratulated him. And the authorities have now turned the day of remembrance and mourning into a promotion of war with Ukraine. Disgusting.

While walking, I listened to a book downloaded to my phone. I didn’t go anywhere today, so there were no problems. My husband worked, but he also managed.

I'm tired of all the shutdowns and blocking. 0% acceptance, 0% understanding.

Faith

lives on Shchukinskaya

Today is also Global Big Day , international bird counting day. So I went to Izmailovsky Park. I left at seven and walked until 1 p.m. There were no problems with the Internet either at home, on Shchukinskaya, or in the park. I found 34 species.

I didn’t go to the civilian part of the park to avoid the mass celebrations.

The Internet is turned off supposedly for security reasons, but I don’t really understand whether these measures work. When there was a shutdown in the center the other day, it was eerie, as if cut off from the rest of the world.

Ivan

For me this is no longer a holiday. It has long been mixed with the current war in Ukraine, mixing truth and lies.

[During the shutdown] there are few options: catch Wi-Fi in passing cafes.

The decision [to shutdown] was made only out of fear. Due to the inability to provide real security. You can still feel how much Putin fears for his life.

Vasily

lives on Pervomaiskaya

I moved the day off to another day. Anyway, it’s better not to go outside today. It’s infuriating that all the media indiscriminately promote news about shutdowns in Moscow, but in fact, Moscow is now the only adequate city in this regard.

A few days ago I returned from St. Petersburg, having stayed there for several weeks. There, white lists started on May 1 and worked probably 50% of the time. When I was traveling by train, the Internet appeared only when approaching Moscow.

On May 9, the Internet was turned off only in the center and for a couple of hours. Apart from that couple of weeks in the spring when there were large-scale tests of white lists, everything is much better in Moscow than in other cities: if the Internet is turned off, it is locally and not for long.

When I was in Sochi last summer, in case of any danger the Internet was simply turned off; after the end of the [air] alert, it sometimes remained disconnected for several days. In my native Siberian town, where I was in the spring (just when white lists were being tested in Moscow), it felt like the entire Internet had simply degraded to the level of 2012: it was constantly falling off in half the city. Wired Internet is also constantly slow, although a couple of years ago everything was fine.

White lists are not a problem for an IT specialist; they are easy to work around. But a complete shutdown basically stops all functions of a modern city.

This is absurd. Criminals will find a hundred ways to circumvent these restrictions, but respectable residents will not. In the event of an incident, this could simply cause mass panic. The FSB, in its attempts at security, is once again shooting itself in the foot.

Victor

lives at VNDKh

We didn’t notice the outage; in the morning in the north of Moscow everything was working.

Previously, more than 10 years ago, May 9 was the second most important holiday in our family. But after the power of the Immortal Regiment “squeezed out” the St. George ribbons, watching all this became unpleasant. In recent years, we don’t watch the parade, we go out of town. This year we are doing housework.

It's a pity that 26 years of stability led to this. I am sure that the working Internet does not threaten me and my family in any way.

Oleg

lives in Izmailovo

I'm working this day. I drove through the center without traffic jams: the city was empty. The Internet was everywhere, as were points with machine guns and mini-drones on bridges and intersections within the Garden Ring.

Nothing depends on us anyway. We came to the conclusion that in the fifth year of the war, which we are “winning,” we have no Internet, there are a lot of military men around the city and a parade for 40 minutes. In the context of everything, this Internet shutdown seems somewhat inevitable.

Ivan

lives in the south of Moscow

To be honest, I woke up at about 11, the mobile Internet was already working.

I want to say that in many liberal media the situation is exaggerated. The Internet was turned off only for two days (May 5 and 9) and only in the morning hours.

Despite the fact that there was no impact on me or my friends, I have an extremely negative attitude towards this. No amount of “safety” for people gathering on Red Square is worth it.

I compare it to blocking roads when a motorcade passes. Thousands of people will stand and be late for work or the airport, because the safety of the assholes who travel in motorcades is more important. As for me, it is better not to hold a parade at all than to turn off the Internet. But our government’s priorities, of course, are different.

Igor

lives in JSC

They began to be afraid within two weeks. There are rumors that Ukraine now also has ballistics, which can damage houses. We thought about leaving the city, but decided that the children wouldn’t understand. On the night of the ninth, we got together at home and decided that this would be the right thing to do. When we woke up, we were glad that we were alive. That's the whole holiday.

All week until the ninth there were many problems with the Internet, especially in the Moscow region. In Moscow, at least there is Wi-Fi everywhere, but far from the city it is very unpleasant to be left without a connection. Interestingly, today, as soon as the parade passed, the Internet immediately started working. Now everything is available, no difficulties.

I don’t understand why there is so much talk about this [internet shutdown] now. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people are constantly being killed and maimed is as if it should be so. And then some kind of Internet - and people burst through. Apparently, the stars really aligned this way: the topic concerns everyone, and we can talk about it. Unlike war.

A.

lives in Bibirevo

In residential areas there is a feeling that there is no May 9th. Last year and the year before, flags hung everywhere, this year only on the MFC building. There are no posters on billboards, no celebrations in parks (although last week I saw schoolchildren with St. George ribbons). Everyone tries very hard to pretend that this is an ordinary Saturday.

The Internet worked, which surprised me: it was as if they had just said that they would turn it off, but they couldn’t turn it off.

Andrey

lives in Danilovsky district

It’s good that this time they began to warn everyone in advance. We made some conclusions: you can’t just turn it off and not tell anyone anything. Many people left the city for dachas, vacations, and walks. Moscow was empty, but there were crowds in the Moscow region. My navigator didn't work for a while.

Alexey

Lives in the New Cheryomushki area

Over the past 15 years, this holiday has irritated me more and more. I always tried to leave the city so as not to see posters, parades, children in caps, cars with ribbons, banners, “To Berlin” stickers and cardboard tank turrets.

Today, for the first time in many years, I noticed that everything that annoyed me was gone. All around is normal city life. Zero costumed Cossack children, only a couple of cars with flags and banners. Tolerable.

At the same time, the very topic of the [World War II] war occupies me: I read books from that period, trying to understand these events. But I cannot accept any communication from the state on the topic of wars. She is insincere, inappropriate, sometimes deceitful. In addition, the authorities simply do not have moral authority in my eyes - there are no people there whose opinion I would like to listen to.

In my area there were either no outages or I didn’t notice them.

Alina

lives in the Belorusskaya area

I went out into the city for training around noon and was surprised that Moscow could be so quiet. On leaving the yoga studio (always a corner of calm), I was literally deafened by the silence, which is unusual for the block near Leningradka itself. In the city there are a minimum number of people on the street.

On the way home on the highway there are people in green armor and with firearms. “Hans, are we villains?”

You remember the times of self-isolation and sit at home until it passes.

"Jellyfish"