Russia slows internet crackdown as voter anger hits Putin rating

A public backlash over tightening internet restrictions in Russia, particularly against the popular Telegram service, is forcing a Kremlin rethink amid worries the crackdown is hurting President Vladimir Putin’s rating.

The push by Russia’s FSB security service for tougher controls has prompted some top officials to warn of political and economic risks from barring access to the internet, according to people familiar with the discussions.

That is likely to slow the crackdown, allowing Telegram to continue functioning in Russia, the sources said, asking not to be identified discussing internal issues.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Russian authorities have waged a relentless campaign against social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, as part of efforts to suppress dissent since Mr Putin ordered the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

More recently, they have pushed Russians to adopt a state-run “super-app” called Max, modelled after China’s WeChat, including by severely limiting access to Telegram.

Widespread mobile internet outages for weeks in Moscow, a city of more than 13 million people, also prompted an outcry in March as the authorities appeared to test further controls on the nation’s online infrastructure. The Kremlin justified the disruption as a security measure.

There has also been a push to restrict Russians’ usage of virtual private networks, or VPNs, that help them to evade bans on blocked content.

It is unclear how far officials ultimately intend to go to limit online access in Russia. But discontent over the daily inconveniences for people who have grown reliant on digital services may be feeding into Mr Putin’s declining public rating as Russians grow tired of disruption linked to the war.

Trust in Mr Putin has fallen by more than 8 percentage points since January to 67.8 per cent, according to the state-run pollster VTsIOM. By early March, it had reached its lowest level since the war began.

That is a problem for the Kremlin as it seeks to manage the public mood ahead of parliamentary elections in Russia scheduled for September. And it undermines official narratives that the public remains united behind Mr Putin in the conflict with Ukraine that is now in its fifth year.

“The blocking is most noticeable among the relatively active, affluent populations of large cities, who were already dissatisfied with the government,” said Mr Denis Volkov, head of another Moscow-based pollster Levada, whose own polling has not shown a sharp decline in Mr Putin’s rating so far.

“It has a lesser impact on the mood of Putin’s loyal electorate that watches television.”

Telegram’s billionaire founder Pavel Durov, who is being investigated in Russia following his criticism of the crackdown on social media, is encouraging what he called the “digital resistance” inside the country.

“Keep it up,” he said on Telegram, advising users to stock up on VPNs and to update their apps.

“On our side, we’ll continue improving Telegram’s decentralised anti-censorship tech.” BLOOMBERG