The restriction imposed by Vladimir Putin’s regime on the messaging app Telegram this week triggered a wave of public criticism from Russian military personnel, bloggers and parliamentarians, who talk about “direct impacts on the communication” of troops who are working in the invasion of Ukraine and possible risks to internal security.
According to reports published in the Russian state press, the slowness and limitations in the platform’s operation led to demonstrations in the Duma itself, the country’s Chamber of Deputies. Deputy Sergei Mironov, leader of the Fair Russia party, harshly criticized the measure during a parliamentary session.
“Who is making Telegram slow? Go to the front. There the boys shed their blood and that is the only way of communicating with their families and loved ones. What are you doing, idiots?”, he declared.
According to the record of parliamentary discussions, the Fair Russia party presented, together with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, a motion to study the measures taken against Telegram. The proposal was rejected by the ruling party, United Russia, and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.
Mironov also sent a formal petition to the Russian Security Council asking for it to assess the relevance of restrictions imposed by communications regulator Roskomnadzor.
“This decision aroused an extremely negative reaction in society, as it could threaten the security of the citizens of our country,” he said, citing statements by the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, about possible “damages” in the dissemination of warnings in the event of “Ukrainian attacks”.
The Telegram channel Dva Maiora asked that Roskomnadzor leaders and deputies be sent to the front line to understand how communications work in the combat zone. War correspondent Alexander Sladkov stated that the Russian Army suffered a “double blow” with the measure, citing the previous blocking of Starlink terminals and now what he called “friendly fire” from regulatory authorities.
The demonstrations occur at a time when the WhatsApp application also denounced attempts to block it completely in Russia, according to information released in the same week, amid the promotion of the Russian MAX application – which increases the Kremlin’s control over communications – as a domestic alternative. To date, the Kremlin has not announced a reduction in measures related to Telegram.
