Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state censorship and communications watchdog, reportedly has begun efforts to slow down Telegram nationwide.
Founded by Russian-born tech mogul Pavel Durov, Telegram is popular across Eastern Europe, including Russia.
Russian media reported, citing sources in relevant agencies, that Roskomnadzor started tightening restrictions as early as Tuesday, Feb. 10, although the agency has issued no official statement.
A telecommunications industry source told Forbes that Telegram traffic in Russia declined on Feb. 9 and 10. On Monday, the slowdown affected regional users; by Tuesday, it had reached Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Russian Telegram users reported outages for the second consecutive day on Feb. 10, according to Downdetector and Sboy.rf.
As of 1:28 p.m. Moscow time, Downdetector recorded 1,155 complaints in the previous hour and 11,485 over 24 hours. Sboy.rf logged 3,445 complaints by 1:31 p.m.
In August 2025, Roskomnadzor announced a “partial restriction” on calls via Telegram and WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which Russia designates as extremist), claiming the move was aimed at combating crime.
The agency said the platforms were being used “to involve Russian citizens in subversive and terrorist activities,” calling them major tools for fraud and extortion.
Notably, Kyiv has previously accused Russian intelligence of recruiting civilians via Telegram to carry out terrorist bombings.
In January, Andrey Svintsov, deputy chair of the State Duma’s IT committee, said Telegram was being slowed because it was too slow to block anonymous channels spreading “all sorts of nonsense.” While cooperation with Telegram existed, he said, it was “insufficient.”
Artem Sheikin, deputy head of the Federation Council’s Digital Economy Council, later told TASS that Russia had been gradually introducing restrictions because Telegram “fails to comply with requirements aimed at preventing and suppressing crimes.”
Since August 2025, audio and video calls have been blocked and media transfers partially slowed, Sheikin said.
Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development added that call functions would be restored once Telegram complies with Russian law – widely seen as a demand for broader access to user data.
In late December 2025, a group of Russians filed an administrative lawsuit against Roskomnadzor and the Ministry of Digital Development, seeking to have the restrictions on Telegram and WhatsApp declared illegal.
The plaintiffs argued the measures violated constitutional rights, including freedom of information. Moscow’s Tagansky Court accepted the case on Dec. 24 but dismissed it days later. The plaintiffs appealed the decision in January.
The restriction comes as the Russian government promotes a new messaging app called Max, which is indirectly owned by the state energy giant Rosneft through its subsidiary VK.
Unlike WhatsApp and Telegram, which use end-to-end encryption to protect users’ calls and messages, Max is expected to allow Russian security services access to shared data. The app is currently in beta testing.
Ukraine has also weighed banning Telegram over concerns about Russian disinformation and data leaks. Partial restrictions were introduced in late 2024 on work devices used by military personnel and civil servants and later extended to lawmakers.
Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has steadily tightened control over citizens’ online access. Facebook and Instagram – both owned by Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company – were banned in March 2022.