A widespread internet outage struck Russia on Wednesday.
It left thousands of people unable to access major apps and websites, including popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Telegram, according to the Downdetector monitoring platform.
The disruption, which began around 2 p.m., also impacted websites like Wikipedia, Skype, and Russia’s public services portal Gosuslugi.
Most reports of the outage came from Russian cities, but users in Kazakhstan and Finland also experienced difficulties accessing Telegram.
Despite the widespread outage, many users found they could still access the affected platforms using a VPN.
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Mikhail Klimaryov, the head of Internet Without Borders, an organization focused on fighting Russian digital censorship, noted that phone operators reported a 10–15% drop in overall traffic within an hour of the outage.
He speculated that the disruption was not the result of a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, as claimed by Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor. Instead, he suggested that the explanation provided was misleading, arguing that it’s impossible to target all phone operators simultaneously in such an attack.
Earlier this month, Russian users had also reported issues with YouTube, following a State Duma Deputy's announcement that Russian authorities would begin slowing down YouTube speeds by up to 70%.
This was seen as retaliation for YouTube’s removal of pro-Kremlin channels.
Russia has a history of restricting access to popular digital platforms. Signal, a secure messaging app, was previously blocked for "violations" of anti-terror legislation, and social media giants like Facebook, Instagram, and X have been inaccessible without a VPN since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.
