Moscow is threatening to cut off internet access across the Belgorod region if local activists and media don’t stop publicly complaining about the issue.
The Kremlin is rapidly pushing Russia into digital isolation, residents of the border region were told, warning that discussing mobile internet problems could lead to even tighter communication restrictions, reports the local channel Pepel Belgorod.
The controversy flared after the December 19 “Direct Line” show with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A Belgorod journalist complained about regular internet outages in the border region, saying residents can’t get timely air-raid updates and diabetes patients lose access to blood glucose monitoring services. Putin signaled the restrictions would continue, calling them a “necessary measure.”
The following day, Belgorod region’s minister of public communications, Oksana Tarantova, sent an internal message to editors-in-chief of local media, urging them to avoid the topic.
“We can’t raise the issue of internet shutdowns in your materials; this risks our difference from other regions being noticed and they’ll cut everything. In other words, spreading the topic of internet restrictions equals the risk of being left without it altogether. So you understand. I could say more - I’ve said enough. Please trust,” Tarantova wrote.
Russian authorities have begun restricting internet access, ostensibly to counter Ukrainian drones - a rationale criticized even by Russian war bloggers as unconvincing. More likely, the curbs are a continuation of the Kremlin’s push for total censorship, plunging the country into digital isolation.
