Mobile web shut off in one Russian region until end of war

According to The Moscow Times, representatives of the regional government announced this at a press conference on 8 November, Ukrinform reports.

According to Oleg Yagfarov, the region’s Minister of Digital Development, the authorities of the Ulyanovsk region cannot influence this decision, as it is made by the federal centre to ensure “state security,” and the restriction will be cancelled only by decision of Moscow.

Regional officials referred to a decision “taken by the federal center last week” to expand the “security zone” around strategic facilities. They clarified that this measure concerns permanent restrictions rather than temporary actions introduced during specific incidents.

Connectivity issues have already been observed in the Ulyanovsk region for more than a week.

Yagfarov noted that the shutdown affects residential areas, social facilities, and office buildings.

Residents of the Ulyanovsk region were reminded about the so-called “white list” of internet services that remain accessible, including “Gosuslugi” (Federal State Information System "Unified Portal of State and Municipal Services (Functions)", Yandex services, VKontakte, the Mir payment system, and others. People are also advised to use public Wi-Fi networks.

According to estimates by the Na Svyazi project, daily internet shutdowns are already being recorded in more than 50 regions of Russia, although the authorities have not previously announced indefinite restrictions.

As reported by Ukrinform, in May 2025, authorities in Russian regions began actively cutting off internet access under the pretext of security amid Ukrainian drone strikes. In July, Russia set a record for the number of shutdowns: 1,470 incidents.

In August, the Russian government confirmed that the real purpose of systemic mobile internet shutdowns is not security but restricting access to “undesirable” information.

At the end of October, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on the “rules for centralized management of the public communications network,” under which, in the event of “threats to the stability, security and integrity” of internet functioning in Russia, Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) will be able to disconnect Russian internet from the global network and block any websites.