Russia Thwarts Protests Over The Blocking Of A Messaging App

Authorities in a Russian city blocked a rally due to “tree inspection”. Elsewhere, snow removal problems or still-existing COVID-19 restrictions were blamed. And somewhere the administrators argued that the reason for the protest did not exist.

In recent weeks, authorities in nearly a dozen Russian regions have used various excuses to prevent demonstrations against internet censorship and the blocking of the popular messaging app Telegram.

In most cases they were successful. Considering the crackdown on dissent since the 4-year-long occupation of Ukraine, activists decided not to risk holding unauthorized rallies, even if they were not war-related. Some went to court to challenge the government’s refusal to allow pickets, while others reduced them to smaller indoor gatherings.

But discontent continues across the political spectrum over moves against Russia’s second most popular messaging app, adding to frustrations over a growing list of issues plaguing the country.

“Obviously the situation has changed, the laws have become stricter, but the protest has gone nowhere,” said Alexander Sustov, a lawmaker in Russia’s far eastern Primorye region, where a pro-Telegram rally was blocked last month.

“Discontent continues. And any ban will only fuel that discontent,” he said.

online control

The restriction of Telegram is Russia’s latest move to bring the internet under government control. Thousands of websites and platforms were blocked, as well as numerous virtual private networks that allowed users to bypass censorship. Widespread mobile phone internet outages leave only a handful of government-sanctioned websites available.

Telegram trails only WhatsApp (also severely restricted) in popularity among Russians and is widely used by government agencies for their official social media presence, as well as pro-Kremlin commentators and military bloggers with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Authorities are encouraging users to switch to MAX, a government-backed messaging app that critics say is a tool of government surveillance.

Military bloggers have criticized the moves against Telegram, arguing that it has become an indispensable communication tool for Russian troops in Ukraine and activists running crowdfunding campaigns to aid Moscow’s forces.

The government initially promised not to restrict Telegram on the battlefield, but then a different signal came from the Kremlin.

In a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin for International Women’s Day, a soldier called Telegram a “hostile means of communication” and agreed with him when he said that “the use in combat of communication systems that are not ours, not under our control, poses a danger to personnel.”

Unconfirmed media reports predict that the app, which had 93.6 million monthly users in Russia in December 2025, or 76% of the population, will be completely blocked in the coming weeks, according to monitoring group Mediascope.

Protests crushed from Moscow to Siberia

The blocking of Telegram prompted mobilization of various political forces, including those who support the war or the Kremlin in general.

Political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said the widespread horror and lack of a black-and-white narrative to justify the restrictions “makes people feel like they can protest here.”

Last month, members of the Other Russia, an ultranationalist, pro-war group, blocked the entrance to the Moscow office of state media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor with a bicycle cable and unfurled a banner that read: “Give us an unregulated internet (and) a Russia without the Roskom disgrace.”

In December, the group reported to the agency’s St. He hung a banner in his St. Petersburg office that read: “Roskomnadzor, ban this banner.”

All were arrested and Moscow activists faced criminal charges.

Regional branches of the Communist Party, which generally support the Kremlin, tried to organize rallies in many places. In Siberia’s Altai region, these applications were rejected after local officials said claims of internet restrictions “contradicted reality”. In southern Krasnodar, a rally was allowed on the outskirts of the city in late March.

In the northern cities of Naryan-Mar and Syktyvkar, Communist Party activists managed to strike, carrying banners reading “The authorities do not decide what we read” and “The Internet is not a prison.”

But these were exceptions; Authorities elsewhere refused to allow rallies or blocked them at the last minute.

Organizers in the Ural Mountains city of Perm received permission for a demonstration on March 15, but two hours before the demonstration was due to begin activists were told there was a “possible emergency” at the rally site that made the demonstration unsuitable for assembly.

Some still emerged. 80-year-old Viktor Gilin said, “Vladimir Putin! I demand that you bring back freedom of thought and expression, that is, the internet!” He opened a banner that said: He was quickly detained and fined.

16 people were detained at the site of a pro-Telegram rally planned this month in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk. Activist Roman Malozyomov said that although a permit was not required for the protest in the square, participants found the area marked with tape for so-called “tree inspection”.

Malozyomov and other activists, journalists and some passersby were detained, but were released after a few hours. He went straight to Lenin Square for a one-man strike, carrying a sign that crossed out the Roskomnadzor logo and said he wanted to “stay connected”.

This week, activists in various regions applied for permission to hold more rallies on March 29. Some were quickly rejected.

Discreetly protesting other issues

Since anti-war protests were brutally suppressed in 2022, rallies have been rare as political trials have soared and there are laws restricting the rise of dissent.

Smaller demonstrations, including unauthorized demonstrations, continued in some places. In 2024, soldiers’ wives picketed the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense, and in the same year more than 1,000 people gathered in the Bashkortostan region to protest the imprisonment of a local activist, resulting in mass arrests.

Farmers in Siberia this month protested what they say are unnecessary cattle culls. Workers at a woodworking factory in Northern Komi marched to demand repayment of their wages.

Hundreds of people attended an authorized rally in Vladivostok in October to protest increased vehicle registration fees; It was one of the largest meetings in the Pacific coast city in years.

Activist Anton Isakov recently managed to organize an authorized demonstration in the Siberian city of Tomsk against the blocking of the popular online gaming platform Roblox and against animal cruelty.

If authorities allow protests, he said, there will be ready participants because of “the many issues people want to talk about.” Attempts to get permission for a pro-Telegram rally have so far been rejected.

Malozyomov, the Novosibirsk activist, said small, authorized rallies on issues such as high utility costs are generally allowed there because “the authorities are trying to give people the opportunity to relax so that tensions do not escalate.”

Some are trying to take other measures besides the rally.

Konstantin Larionov and 41 others in Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, filed a lawsuit against Roskomnadzor and other government officials last year, arguing that restrictions on Telegram and WhatsApp violated their rights to freedom of expression and privacy.

Larionov petitioned the court via email, urging others to join the court, and the number of plaintiffs increased to 105. He said it was encouraging to see people from “different parts of the country” willing to participate.

The court sided with the authorities. Larionov appealed and lost, but plans to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

He acknowledges that the opportunity to protest in Russia has diminished, but believes it is important to keep trying.

“Maybe we are retreating a little, but we are not giving up,” he said.

Analyst Gallyamov says the Telegram protests are less about “fighting the regime” and more about signaling public discontent.

But he said this was another crack in the foundation of Putin’s rule.