10 April 2026

Russian authorities are strengthening their blocking of Telegram, increasing its reach to 100%. Mikhail Klimarev, head of the Internet Defense Society, published the relevant data from the OONI service.

If at the end of March the rate of failures when accessing the messenger without bypassing the blocking was around 80%, now it has reached around 95%. “It seems Telegram has been completely blocked in Russia,” Klimarev concludes, although he notes that there is insufficient data on the measurements.

This is confirmed by Downdetector data. Since midnight, the messaging app’s crash rate has increased from 69% to 100%. This is the highest rate since the app was first blocked this year. In the last hour, nearly 800 complaints about Telegram issues were received. The majority came from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Samara region. Users report that the messaging app doesn’t open, doesn’t allow sending or receiving messages, or downloading media files.

Roskomnadzor began blocking Telegram in the summer of 2025, ostensibly to combat fraud and the involvement of Russians in sabotage. First, voice calls were restricted, and then media file transfer speeds were slowed. In February 2026, the regulator stepped up the blocking, claiming that the messenger was not cooperating with Russian authorities and was not taking sufficient measures to counteract malicious actors. 

By April, Telegram’s availability across the country had dropped to 20%. Rostelecom CEO Mikhail Oseevsky reported a tenfold reduction in messenger traffic on the T2 network. Verstka’s sources in the presidential administration said the blocking was a decision by security forces.

However, many Russians continue to use Telegram using a VPN. The messenger’s founder, Pavel Durov, estimated this number at 65 million daily users. He also announced the launch of a “digital resistance” campaign and released an update that disguises Telegram traffic as a Chrome browser, helping to bypass blocking. 

A Levada Center survey also confirms that nearly half of Russians (49%, or approximately 71 million) continue to use Telegram despite its blocking by the authorities. One in five (20%) accesses the messenger’s information channels daily or several times a day, 14% almost daily, and 15% at least once a week. 

https://ru.themoscowtimes.com/2026/04/10/telegram-polnostyu-zablokirovali-vrossii-a192278