The Kremlin had been slowly and quietly encroaching on freedom of the internet in Russia for a while now, but this time it went all out: State institutions were mobilised to block access to one of the most popular Russian messenger apps, Telegram.
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On April 16, the Russian communications censor, Roskomnadzor, started blocking Telegram. More than 18 million IP addresses were blocked, more than the number of Telegram users in Russia. Some of these IP addresses belonged to Microsoft, Amazon and Google cloud services, which led to disruptions in the online services of dozens of companies, including banks, online shops, online payment websites, other messenger apps and even the Moscow Kremlin Museum. Ironically, Telegram continued to work.