Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, said blocking the internet only distanced Russia from “digital sovereignty.”
“Specialists who could create an operating system for smartphones in Russia are leaving the country en masse under crippled Internet conditions. Without such a system, all applications on smartphones – ‘national’ or ‘foreign’ – remain vulnerable to targeted surveillance and censorship by the United States through the iOS and Android app stores,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to Durov, replacing “foreign” applications with “national” applications while preserving American operating systems is “a change in packaging without changing the essence” and “Potemkin villages with a touch of corruption.”
The founder of the Telegram application proposed awarding a medal to the Russian official who “broke the Internet.” Durov did not explain who he meant.
The Russian official who destroyed the Internet and set the country back decades under the pretext of “digital sovereignty” deserves a National Security Medal from the United States.
I would like to forget about the ban, but there is no such possibility! We keep telling you how to stay connected even when it’s limited. For example, like Calls Relatives to Russia and not spending all the money (and nerves) on them, what to do if It doesn’t work VPN, and why, when Russians go on vacation abroad, they are blocked We are going With them? And in order not to miss anything important – download We asked!
Since the beginning of 2026, the situation with the ban in Russia has worsened significantly. Mobile Internet shutdowns affected not only the regions, but also St. Petersburg and Moscow. In addition, the authorities, along with YouTube, began to “slow down” the Telegram app to the point of blocking it completely. During Internet shutdowns (the need that officials explain is the threat of unmanned threats), “whitelists” should work, but Telegram or WhatsApp are not included in them. Durov advised Russians to update Telegram and store their VPN.