At the end of last week, interruptions in the operation of mobile Internet and cellular communications began in Moscow. by Data After Durov’s Law was issued, on the evening of March 5, users began complaining that their websites and mobile applications stopped loading. Some had no network at all.
Problems were observed among all four major mobile operators: MTS, Megafon, Beeline and T2. However, the situation differed according to the size of the city. For example, one operator in the area had a complete lack of connectivity, while for another operator everything continued to work. But in another field it could be the opposite.
The outages have been continuing for several days. On site plans Downdetector and “Failure.rf” It is noted that the total number of complaints began to gradually decrease, but on the morning of March 9, all four operators faced problems again.
Mobile Internet outages in Russia have been occurring regularly since May 2025. The authorities justify such outages with the war against Ukrainian drones. So, for example, in the morning On March 9, the Internet was shut down throughout St. Petersburg for six hours. Governor of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko before that I mentioned About the threat of drone attacks.
It is not known what the problems are in Moscow. Kommersant sources in the telecommunications market claimTelecom operators have received orders to limit mobile internet in certain areas of the city. This also led to problems with cellular communications. It is also not known how long it will last and on what basis the city areas will be selected.
The operators themselves note that their networks are working normally. At the same time, Beeline representatives admit that in some regions there may already be outages “due to external restrictions.” T2 added that the restrictions do not occur on the operator’s side.
One of Kommersant’s interlocutors notes that the problems mainly affected the south of Moscow. Code Durov writes that by midday on March 6, communications outages began in the central areas of the city. Novaya Gazeta Europe correspondent I mentionedWhich faced a complete lack of network in the east of the capital.
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Code Durov’s source drew attention to the fact that mobile Internet is not turned off in individual regions, but in specific areas. “Literally in one part of the district in the central administrative district, everything can work, but after a few streets the network completely disappears,” the post wrote.
At the end of February 2026, Vladimir Putin signed a law obliging mobile operators to block cellular communications and landline Internet at the request of the Federal Security Service. However, telecom operators are not liable to subscribers for such restrictions. law I entered As of March 3.
At the moment, it is impossible to determine whether there is a relationship between the new amendments and the outage of mobile Internet in Moscow. However, even before this law came into force, city residents periodically faced a lack of communication, although interruptions were not very long and widespread.
Here’s what Muscovites say when they suffer from communication blackouts these days:
Rudolph
On March 6, I went to meet my friend at Leningradsky station. In the morning, I saw general news that the Internet had been turned off in the south of Moscow, but by the time I got there, everything was as usual. At the station we tried to order a taxi, but neither of us had an Internet connection – neither in the building itself nor near it. I tried restarting the phone and turning airplane mode on and off.
I look around – people are in exactly the same position. In general, there is usually a continuous stream of taxi drivers at Leningradsky station – someone arrives, enters, leaves, and a new car takes their place. But here there is no such thing. As a result, we went by metro, and already further from the center, closer to Oktyabrskaya, everything went well.
On March 8, we had lunch at Krasnopresnenskaya, everything worked well there. We arrived at Tretyakovskaya – there was no Internet anymore. Regular mobile communications were also cut from time to time. We realized this because my friend was trying to connect to Wi-Fi – she had to make a call to get permission, and it wouldn’t connect.
Elena
On Friday, around lunchtime, I was taking the tram in Prospekt Mira and realized that nothing was working. I live in Basmani area, it took about half an hour to get there, and all this time there was no mobile internet. I hate the idea that I don’t have the opportunity to use Internet resources. Let’s say I’m out walking my dog, and I want to go get coffee, but I don’t have a bank card with me. I got used to the fact that I could, if necessary, pay for the purchase through SBP, but now there is no such option.
On March 8, I was walking into the center and there was no internet either. It was impossible to connect to public Wi-Fi hotspots in the city: Internet access was required to obtain a license. I had to ask the café staff for the password to their work Wi-Fi so I could call my friends. They gave it to me without any further questions – I probably wasn’t the first person to ask them about it.
Yesterday the Internet did not work in the area of \u200b\u200bCulture Park and Ostozhenka. There was also no communication all the way from Kitai-Gorod to Kursk. I don’t feel anxious, I just get angry. Last year, before May 9th, they warned in advance that the internet would go out, and everyone was prepared for it. But this time everything came suddenly, and at first I didn’t understand anything – I thought maybe I ran out of money on my phone or maybe MTS had some kind of glitch. Otherwise, I try to approach all of this with some desperate acceptance and not go to extremes – there is already too much emotional turmoil.
Misha
On Friday I was in the Basmani area, buying something, and I needed to transfer money from my account to my card. Then I realized that my mobile internet was not working. My friend was with me, and her internet wasn’t working either. It’s very uncomfortable when you want to do something familiar, but you can’t. We connected to Wi-Fi and did everything we wanted, but it was the first time in my life I had encountered something like this – I thought there were no special restrictions on mobile Internet in Moscow. I went on Saturday and Sunday to walk around the area. While walking, I usually called my parents, and here the communication was so bad, I heard almost nothing, and in the end we didn’t really talk. And mobile internet still doesn’t really work. Cheburnet is just around the corner. But the moment comes humility: OK, whatever happens, it can’t get any worse, I’m ready for anything.
Lena
On Saturday evening, I left the Kurskaya beautician, tried to play music in Apple Music, and no song was playing. I tried restarting the phone several times, turning airplane mode on and off, but nothing worked. Then I went to Telegram, and nothing uploaded there either. At first, I thought I had problems with a VPN or something similar, but even search queries in the browser were not executed. So I realized that apparently this was some kind of blockage. The Internet only started working when I left the third transmission ring.
The next day, on the evening of March 8, I was back at the center, and there was no internet again. I needed to deposit money into my bank card, and none of the ATMs I found were working. At some point, I started to panic because I thought that if something happened to me, I wouldn’t be able to tell my loved ones right away. In an emergency situation (for example, during an arrest), writing a letter is faster and more convenient than calling.
I had a train in the evening, and I didn’t remember the car number or the seat number. Just in case, I went to the Russian Railways website and opened it. I realized that apparently, only resources from whitelists work. Already in the cabin I had a panic attack. I thought: What if this is our new reality now? I don’t want to leave Russia, but free Internet access seems to be my red line.