Russian authorities warned Wednesday that mobile internet service may be disabled in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other areas for unspecified security reasons, sparking public outrage. One member of parliament admonished citizens to deliver New Year’s greetings the old-fashioned way: in person.
“Specifically, mobile internet — yes, it may be disabled to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Andrey Svintsov, the deputy chairman of the Committee on Information in the State Duma, the country’s lower house of parliament, said, according to Tass, a state-controlled news agency. “People will finally get a break from the endless viewing of unnecessary videos.”
“And if you need to congratulate someone,” Svintsov added, “pay them a visit, ring their doorbell, and offer your greetings.”
Russians have been living under tightening government repression and censorship, including restrictions on many social media and messagingplatforms, since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. There have also been frequent blackouts of mobile internet service, which authorities have justified as necessary to avert attacks by Ukrainian drones, which can use local networks for guidance.
On Wednesday, Russians reacted to the announcement of a possible New Year’s Eve blackout with anger, dismay and derision.
“Thank you, Big Brother! Finally, someone has decided what I should watch. Otherwise, I would have chosen for myself, like a fool,” one reader posted on the Telegram channel of Astra, an independent news site. “Next year, we are looking forward to a power outage so that we can take a break from the harmful light of electric bulbs and sit by candlelight, like in the good old days.”
Some noted that mobile internet, at the end of 2025, is now used to access essential basic services such as taxis and road navigation, to pay for groceries and everyday expenses, or to contact the police, call an ambulance, or report a fire.
“Great, now I can’t even call a taxi to get home safely in -15°C weather. Real ‘safety’ there,” one user posted in the Telegram channel of the Meduza website.
Temperatures as the new year arrives are expected to be about 13 degrees Fahrenheit in Moscow, the capital, and 9 degrees, in St. Petersburg.
One internet user challenged Svintsov to be a model of public behavior.
“Svintsov should lead by example and disable his own government-provided internet first,” the user posted on Pikabu, a social news platform often called the Russian version of Reddit.
Another user mocked the authorities for urging people to use WiFi instead of mobile internet.
“They tell us to use WiFi, but most public hotspots in Moscow require a SMS verification … which won’t work without a mobile network. Geniuses,” a user posted on Habr, a social platform popular with IT and computer science professionals.
The Russian government has published “white lists” of approved sites, which some users slammed on social media posts as “The Digital North Korea Starter Pack.”
Authorities have transitioned from blocking unapproved sites — so-called “blacklisting” — to “whitelisting,” which permits access only to approved sites and have framed the change as a security measure to protect against cyberattacks and align with government counterterrorism operations or drone defense protocols.
The implementation of these lists typically occurs during regional “security events.” Unlike traditional blacklisting, the “whitelist” approach allows the state to effectively isolate the internet in Russia from the global web. The restrictions are managed by the Ministry of Digital Development to ensure that only so-called “loyal” or “essential” services remain operational during periods of civil unrest or military tension.
Advocacy groups like Roskomsvoboda, which fights internet censorship, have popularized the “North Korea” comparison to publicize Russia’s move toward a national intranet.
Technical experts have said that the whitelist system is “broken by design.”
Sarkis Darbinyan, a digital rights lawyer, and administrators of network-monitoring channels, have pointed out that because the whitelist system blocks Google and Apple’s back end servers, even “approved” Russian apps often fail to send notifications or verify users.
Independent media outlets such as Meduza, the Moscow Times, and Astra have criticized the government for using “security” as a pretext to force users into using state-monitored platforms like the “Max” messenger service and VK, a Russian version of Facebook, where private communication is easily accessible to the FSB and other state security services.
On Wednesday, as New Year’s Eve festivities approached, some internet users heaped scorn on the suggestion that New Year’s greetings should be delivered in person in Russia, which forms the world’s largest geopolitical landmass, spanning about 5,600 miles and more than 11 times zones from Europe to the Bering Sea — not to mention friends and family in other countries around the globe.
“How wonderful that we have such sensible deputies who share wise advice with the unwise population,” a reader posted on the Fontanka.ru news site. “It’s genius: ‘If you want to greet someone, visit them, ring their doorbell, and congratulate them,’ emphasized the parliamentarian. First, you go to Vladivostok, then to Sevastopol, then spend a few hours in the city, and finally fly to Sydney (it’s a noble cause to congratulate your favorite teacher!)”
Another Fontanka reader asked if Russians would soon be urged to forgo electricity. “The houses were heated with wood, and people went to the spring to fetch water,” the reader posted. “So it’s no big deal if they turn it all off.”
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