Russia Tests Censorship; Moscow Internet Outages Hit

Local banking services and the country's largest mobile operator, MTS, were also affected. Roskomnadzor, Russia's internet regulator, acknowledged the incident, attributing it to issues on a telecom operator's main network, and stated services were being restored.

However, the agency refrained from naming the specific operator or detailing the cause, fueling speculation. This event aligns with a broader pattern of deliberate internet disruptions by Russian authorities.

Notably, in December, similar outages occurred during tests of Russia's "sovereign internet" infrastructure, designed to disconnect the country from the global network. These tests previously impacted a range of foreign and local applications, including WhatsApp and Telegram.

Additionally, Russia is actively throttling YouTube's loading speeds in response to Google's non-compliance with local tech regulations, resulting in a substantial 80% drop in the platform's traffic within Russia by July. These recurring incidents and escalating regulatory actions underscore the Russian government's strategic push for greater internet control and censorship, creating a challenging and unpredictable operational environment for businesses and tech companies with exposure to the region.