Russia’s internet watchdog announced it was throttling the Telegram messenger platform for alleged legal violations on Tuesday, February 10, as Moscow tries to push its citizens into using a more tightly controlled domestic online service.
Moscow has been threatening various internet platforms with forced slowdowns or outright bans if they do not comply with Russian laws. Those laws require data on Russian users to be stored inside the country, and for efforts to be made to stamp out their use for what Moscow calls “criminal and terrorist purposes.”
Telegram is widely used across Russia, both as a messaging app and as a social media service. Almost all major public figures, including government bodies and the Kremlin, post regular updates on the platform.
Moscow is trying to push users onto a state-backed competitor, called Max, which can also handle payments and government services.
‘Information operations‘
Russian users reported slow traffic and lagging downloads on Telegram throughout Tuesday before the official announcement. The Roskomnadzor agency said, in a statement cited by state-backed media outlets, that it will “continue to introduce phased restrictions” on Telegram, which it said had not complied with the laws.
Roskomnadzor has tried to choke other foreign services, including WhatsApp, owned by Facebook parent company Meta, and Google’s YouTube.
Some pro-war bloggers, who also use Telegram extensively, criticised the decision, saying it would hobble communications around the front line and in Russian-occupied territory.
“It’s very unpleasant,” said the Two Majors channel, one of Russia’s most widely read military correspondents. “People’s positions will now mostly be conveyed to the outside world not by people, but by our masters of the foreign ministry,” it added, lamenting the switch to Russian apps that nobody outside the country uses.
Pro-war correspondent Alexander Kots also said blocking Telegram would limit Russia’s own “information operations,” and recruitment of Ukrainians through the app to carry out sabotage attacks.
Both sides widely accuse each other of plotting behind-the-lines operations by recruiting sympathisers, or those in need of cash, over social media.
Telegram founder Durov at issue before
Telegram’s Russian-born founder Pavel Durov, who lives outside the country and also possesses French and Emirati nationalities, posted on his Telegram channel that “Russia is restricting access to Telegram in an attempt to force its citizens to switch to a state-controlled app built for surveillance and political censorship.” “Restricting citizens’ freedom is never the right answer. Telegram stands for freedom of speech and privacy, no matter the pressure,” he posted on Tuesday.
Before the war, Russia had previously tried to ban Telegram, but ultimately failed in its attempts to block access and lifted the ban in 2020.
Durov has previously clashed with Russian authorities. He was forced out of the VK social media platform, a Russian equivalent of Facebook that he founded, under pressure from the authorities. He went on to use the proceeds of the sale to launch Telegram in exile from the United Arab Emirates.
Durov was detained in Paris in 2024, under a French investigation into Telegram’s alleged complicity in criminal activity. France, in July 2025, lifted travel restrictions on him but is keeping up its investigation.
‘Censorship and obstruction’
Critics and rights campaigners say the restrictions are a transparent attempt by the Kremlin to ramp up control and surveillance over internet use in Russia, amid a sweeping crackdown on dissent during the Ukraine offensive.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned what it called a continuous “strategy to strangle the circulation of information” and noted that Russia ranks 171st out of 180 in its World Press Freedom Index.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, branded the move “censorship and obstruction under the guise of protecting people’s rights and interests.”
