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Mobile Internet Curbed in Moscow and St. Petersburg Before Victory Day

The move signals wider use of targeted internet controls.

Overview

  • Mobile access in both cities faltered Tuesday morning after security orders, and the Digital Ministry later said operators had begun restoring service.
  • Officials said further targeted shutdowns remain possible through May 9 as they finalize a list of websites that will stay reachable during any blocks.
  • Banks and apps reported real-world snags, with Sberbank warning of trouble receiving SMS codes and Yandex saying taxi orders could fail, so users were urged to switch to Wi‑Fi.
  • This year’s Red Square parade was scaled back, with the Kremlin dropping military hardware displays due to what it called a higher risk of Ukrainian drone attacks.
  • Russia has increasingly used selective controls since 2022, including “whitelists” that keep approved sites online during outages, a trend monitoring groups say now affects many regions daily.