Russia halts protests over the blocking of a popular messaging app, but frustration persists

In a Russian city, authorities blocked a rally due to a “tree inspection.” Elsewhere, they blamed snow removal issues or still-in-place COVID-19 restrictions. And in one place, administrators argued that the reason for the protest did not exist.

In recent weeks, authorities in nearly a dozen Russian regions have used various excuses to prevent protests against internet censorship and the blocking of the popular messaging app Telegram.

In most cases, they were successful. Aware of the crackdown on dissent since the invasion of Ukraine four years ago, activists decided not to risk holding unauthorized rallies, even if they were not about the war. Some have gone to court to challenge the government’s refusal to allow pickets, while others have reduced them to smaller indoor gatherings.

But disapproval persists across the political spectrum over the moves against Russia’s second-most popular messaging app, adding to frustrations over a growing list of various problems plaguing the country.

“It is clear that the situation has changed, the laws have become stricter, but the protest has achieved nothing,” said Alexander Sustov, a lawmaker from Russia’s far-eastern Primorye region, where a pro-Telegram rally was blocked last month.

“The discontent remains. And any ban only fuels this discontent,” he said.

PHOTOS: Russia thwarts protests over blocking of popular messaging app, but frustration persists

Online control

Restricting Telegram is the latest move by Russia to bring the internet under government control. Thousands of websites and platforms are blocked, as are many virtual private networks that allow users to bypass censorship. Widespread internet shutdowns on cell phones leave only a handful of government-approved websites available.

Telegram is behind WhatsApp – also very restricted – in popularity among Russians and is widely used by government agencies for their official social media presence, as well as by pro-Kremlin commentators and military bloggers with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Authorities are encouraging users to switch to MAX, a government-backed messaging app that critics say is a tool for state surveillance.

Military bloggers are criticizing the moves against Telegram, saying it is an indispensable communications tool for Russian troops in Ukraine and for activists running crowdfunding campaigns to help Moscow’s forces.

The government initially promised not to restrict Telegram on the battlefield, but then a different signal came from the Kremlin.

During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on International Women’s Day, a servicewoman called Telegram an “adversarial communications tool” and agreed with him when he said that “using communications systems that are not ours, that are not under our control, poses a danger to personnel” in combat.

Unconfirmed media reports predict that the app, which as of December 2025 had 93.6 million monthly users in Russia, or 76% of the population, will be completely blocked in the coming weeks, according to monitoring group Mediascope.

Stifled demonstrations from Moscow to Siberia

The blocking of Telegram has prompted various political forces, including those supporting the war or the Kremlin in general, to take action.

Widespread dismay and the lack of a black-and-white narrative to justify the restrictions have given “people the feeling that they can afford to protest here,” said political analyst Abbas Gallyamov.

Last month, members of Other Russia, a pro-war ultranationalist group, blocked the entrance to the Moscow office of media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor with a bicycle cable and unfurled a banner saying: “Give us an Internet without surveillance, (and) Russia without the shame of Roskom.”

In December, the group hung a banner at the agency’s office in St. Petersburg, saying: “Roskomnadzor, ban this banner.”

All were arrested and the Moscow activists were criminally charged.

Regional branches of the Communist Party, which generally supports the Kremlin, attempted to hold rallies in several locations. In Siberia’s Altai region, these requests were refused after local authorities said claims of an internet crackdown were “at odds with reality.” In southern Krasnodar, a rally planned for the end of March was allowed on the outskirts of the city.

In the northern towns of Naryan-Mar and Syktyvkar, Communist Party activists staged pickets, holding signs saying: “It’s not up to the authorities to decide what we read” and “The Internet is not a prison.”

But these were exceptions, with authorities elsewhere refusing to allow gatherings or blocking them at the last minute.

Organizers in the Ural Mountains city of Perm obtained a permit for a protest on March 15, but two hours before it began, activists were informed of a “potential emergency situation” at the rally site that made it unsuitable for a rally.

Some still showed up. Viktor Gilin, 80, unfurled a banner reading: “Vladimir Putin! I demand that you bring back freedom of thought and expression – the Internet!” He was quickly arrested and fined.

In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, 16 people were arrested this month at the site of a planned pro-Telegram rally. Although a permit to demonstrate in that square was not required, participants arrived to find the site marked off with tape for a so-called “tree inspection,” activist Roman Malozyomov said.

Malozyomov and other activists, journalists and some bystanders were arrested but released after a few hours. He went straight to Lenin Square for an individual picket with a sign proclaiming that he wanted to “stay connected,” with the Roskomnadzor logo crossed out.

This week, activists in several regions requested permission to hold new rallies on March 29. Some were quickly rejected.

Protest other issues – with caution

Gatherings have been rare since anti-war protests were brutally suppressed in 2022, with a surge in political prosecutions and a proliferation of laws restricting dissent.

Smaller protests persisted in places, including unauthorized demonstrations. Wives of soldiers demonstrated outside the Kremlin and the Defense Ministry in 2024, and more than 1,000 people gathered that same year in the Bashkortostan region to protest the imprisonment of a local activist, leading to mass arrests.

Farmers in Siberia protested this month against livestock slaughter, which they say is unjustified. In northern Komi, workers at a carpentry factory gathered to demand wage arrears.

Hundreds of people participated in a sanctioned rally in Vladivostok in October to protest rising car registration fees, one of the largest rallies held in the Pacific coast city in years.

In Tomsk, Siberia, activist Anton Isakov recently managed to organize an authorized protest against the blocking of the popular online gaming platform Roblox and another against animal cruelty.

If authorities allow protests, there will be ready participants because of the many issues “people want to speak out about,” he said. His attempts to obtain permission for a pro-Telegram rally have so far been refused.

Malozyomov, the Novosibirsk activist, said small rallies allowed on issues such as high utility costs are often allowed there because “the authorities are trying to give people the opportunity to let off steam, so that tension does not build up.”

Some are trying other measures than gatherings.

Konstantin Larionov from Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, and 41 others filed a lawsuit against Roskomnadzor and other government officials last year, arguing that restrictions on Telegram and WhatsApp violated their freedom of expression and right to privacy.

Larionov urged others to join by petitioning the court via email, and the number of plaintiffs grew to 105. He said it was encouraging to see people “from different parts of the country” willing to participate.

The court sided with the authorities. Larionov appealed and lost but plans to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

He admits that the ability to protest in Russia has diminished, but believes it is important to keep trying.

“We may be going backwards a little bit, but we’re not giving up,” he said.

Analyst Gallyamov says the Telegram protests are more about signaling popular discontent than “fighting the regime.”

But “this is another crack in the foundations” of Putin’s regime, he said.