moscow — Mobile internet restrictions in central Moscow blocked many foreign websites on phones Friday ET, disrupting daily life and slamming businesses that rely on cellphone internet. Russian authorities said the measures are security steps to fend off Ukrainian drone attacks. The intermittent shutdowns, first reported on March 5 ET, have spread from the outskirts into the downtown area and have lasted more than a week.
Moscow businesses hit first
Most critical for the city economy: cafes, restaurants and shops that rely on mobile-based payments and delivery apps have been unable to process transactions. In moscow, owners reported massive losses as customers could not pay for services when cellphone connections failed. Broadband-connected stores and residents at home have not been affected, but storefronts in central moscow saw card terminals, taxi apps and phone-based ordering grind to a halt. ATMs and parking metres that depend on mobile internet also stopped functioning at times, forcing taxi operators to offer phone ordering and cash payments.
A business daily published an estimate that moscow businesses lost between 3 and 5 billion rubles in five days of shutdowns; other estimates ran significantly higher. Retailers and consumers turned to older communication tools: demand rose for walkie-talkies, pagers and media players, and paper maps saw increased sales as digital navigation faltered in central moscow.
Immediate Reactions from Moscow Officials
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (Kremlin) said the latest cellphone internet shutdown was in “strict conformity with the law” and would last “a
At the same time, many industry experts suspect the moves are testing systems that could be used to limit access to the global web if broader cuts are ordered. The outages have also reached government buildings: mobile internet was reported almost entirely missing inside the lower house of parliament, located just a few hundred metres from Red Square, leaving deputies cut off at moments during the disruptions.
What’s next for Moscow
Authorities have framed the measures as security steps and have indicated they will remain in place while judged necessary; observers warn these disruptions look like rehearsals for more sweeping controls. The shutdowns are one strand of a broader push that has already seen major social media blocked since the deployment of troops in 2022, restrictions on messaging apps and promotion of a state-backed messenger that critics view as a surveillance tool. Businesses and residents in moscow are preparing for the possibility of intermittent or prolonged disruption to mobile internet, and officials and companies will be watching whether white-list mechanisms remain limited to government-approved services or expand further.
Expect immediate follow-ups: officials will face pressure to clarify the legal basis and duration of the restrictions, business groups will press for compensation or technical fixes, and observers will monitor whether moscow sees renewed outages or wider rollouts of whitelist controls in the coming days. (Time-stamped: all time references in this story are ET. )
