Durov said that Russia cannot achieve “digital sovereignty” through blocking. And he offered to give a medal to the official who broke the Runet

Internet blocking only distanced Russia from “digital sovereignty,” said Telegram founder Pavel Durov.

“Specialists who could create an operating system for smartphones in Russia are leaving the country en masse in the conditions of a broken Internet. And without such a system, all applications on smartphones - “national” or “foreign” - remain vulnerable to targeted surveillance and censorship by the United States through backdoors and iOS and Android app stores,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.

According to Durov, replacing “foreign” applications with “national” ones while maintaining American operating systems is a “change of packaging without changing the essence” and “Potemkin villages with a smack of corruption.”

The founder of Telegram proposed giving a medal to the Russian official who “broke the Internet.” Durov did not explain who he meant.

The Russian official who broke the Internet and set the country back decades under the pretext of “digital sovereignty” deserves a national security medal—from the United States

I would like to forget about blocking, but there is no such possibility! We continue to tell you how to stay connected even when it is limited. For example, how to call your family in Russia and not spend all your money (and nerves) on it, what to do if the VPN doesn’t work , and why, when Russians go on vacation abroad, the blocking goes with them? And in order not to miss anything important, download our application!

• Since the beginning of 2026, the situation with blocking in Russia has noticeably worsened. Mobile Internet shutdowns affected not only the regions, but also St. Petersburg and Moscow. In addition, along with YouTube, the authorities began to “slow down” Telegram to the point of completely blocking it. During shutdowns (the need for which officials explain is the threat of unmanned threats), “white lists” should operate, but neither Telegram nor WhatsApp are included in them. Durov advised Russians to update Telegram and stock up on VPN.