Imagine losing mobile internet for nearly three weeks. Not because of a hurricane or an infrastructure failure, but because your government’s spy agency decided to flip the switch. That’s the reality for millions of Russians right now.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, has been orchestrating targeted mobile internet shutdowns across the country since early 2026. Moscow and St. Petersburg, home to a combined population of roughly 18 million people, have been hit hardest. In Moscow alone, outages stretched up to 19 days in March 2026.
How Russia legalized going dark
The legal groundwork for these shutdowns was laid in February 2026, when President Vladimir Putin signed legislation granting the FSB authority to order mobile service shutdowns. The law also shields telecom operators from liability when they comply with these directives.
The official justification ties back to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine. Russian authorities have pointed to security threats, particularly concerns over drone attacks, as the reason mobile networks need to go dark. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reinforced this position on March 11, 2026, indicating that outages would persist as long as they were deemed necessary for public safety.
