As Putin takes Russia off the grid, there are growing signs of discontent

Yuliya TalmazanTue, March 31, 2026 at 10:38 AM UTC

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Passengers try to browse the internet on their smartphones while riding the metro in Moscow on March 21. (Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Russians might be getting fed up with the Kremlin making their lives harder and more isolated in the name of security.

A rare call for protests over the weekend followed mounting signs of anger and ridicule aimed at authorities, with pro-Kremlin influencers and newspapers joining a growing wave of public frustration at the government’s approach.

A major mobile internet blackout in Moscow and the throttling of popular messaging app Telegram, both justified by ambiguous security considerations, helped fuel the rare public criticism over this erosion of digital freedoms and connectivity. It comes against the backdrop of soaring prices and an ailing wartime economy, with little sign of major battlefield progress in Ukraine.

Memes on TikTok and Instagram ridiculed Russians resorting to paper maps and pagers in the absence of mobile internet, or walking around the capital with satellite antennas strapped to their laptops.

Others went beyond satire, calling on their compatriots to gather in protest over the weekend. While authorities did not approve any public rallies, at least 20 people were detained for protesting digital restrictions across Russia on Sunday, a rights group said.

“[President Vladimir] Putin really wants every Russian citizen to feel alone and rejected,” said IT specialist Alexander Isavnin.

“He wants them to keep their discontent inside and feel like they are the only ones not happy about what is going on,” Isavnin, 49, told NBC News, explaining why he was among those who tried — and failed — to get approval for protests in the capital and Moscow region.

“We basically live in a digital concentration camp,” said Isavnin.

Engaging in any form of protest has become increasingly dangerous since a crackdown on free speech was intensified following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Even before the war, mass gatherings had to be sanctioned by local authorities. Most are still denied on grounds like Covid-19 restrictions, which don’t seem to apply to government-approved events.

Still, the increasing curtailing of digital freedoms appears to have hit a nerve with many Russians, despite the Kremlin’s longstanding drive for greater control of their lives.

With state TV and media heavily censored, the internet is one of the last bastions of freedom and a source of independent information for millions, although many foreign sites have been banned since the war.

Activist Dmitry Kisiev was among those calling for mass gatherings on March 29, a symbolic reference to Article 29 of the Russian constitution, which guarantees freedom of thought and speech.

A woman walks along a bridge in downtown Moscow on Thursday in front of the Kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral. (Alexander Nemenov / AFP via Getty Images) (Alexander Nemenov)

Kisiev, 31, said local activists had submitted applications to hold rallies in 17 regions across Russia. They were all denied, he said, including some that were initially given the go-ahead. Despite that, the OVD-Info protest monitoring group reported that at least 20 people were arrested across Russia for protesting digital restrictions on Sunday. The group also reported detentions ahead of Sunday of people who tried to apply to hold a protest.

Protests could show those who don’t agree with the restrictions “that there are other like-minded individuals,” Kisiev said.

NBC News reached out to more than a dozen Russians to ask what they think about the calls for protests. Most did not respond, while some declined to speak, without providing a reason.

Earlier this year, some Russians said they feared the Kremlin was preparing the public for a “North Korea” model of the internet, heavily controlled and censored by the state. “I don’t think the Russian public will accept this,” Kisiev said, given how central the internet has become central to the lives of millions in the country.

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Russian authorities have said mobile internet outages are necessary to stop attacks by Ukrainian drones, and that Telegram is turning into a breeding ground for terrorism.

These justifications are “absurd,” Kisiev said, while the real motivation seems obvious to him. “The government is intentionally killing the internet so that users don’t use foreign resources and get alternative information,” he said.

‘Bring back the internet’

Russian authorities have touted the merits of a life without the internet, arguing it’s an opportunity for a “digital detox” and more face-to-face interaction.

A popular game show that aired on a Russian state TV Channel as calls for protests grew earlier this month featured a children’s choir, dancing enthusiastically and singing about how they don’t need the internet. “The monitor’s blue screen won’t ruin my dinner,” they crooned.

But despite this effort from the Kremlin, there is a huge appetite from the public for a way to vent frustration about the mounting restrictions, said politician Boris Nadezhdin, who tried to run for president against Putin in 2024 and whose campaign was overseen by Kisiev.

Nadezhdin said in a phone interview that he supported the protests and had personally applied with authorities in the capital and the wider Moscow region for gatherings of up to 10,000 people. All his requests were turned down citing Covid-19 concerns, he said.

“The slogans are clear,” said Nadezhdin. “Bring back the internet, bring back Telegram, we don’t need your MAX,” he said, referring to the so-called national messenger increasingly imposed on Russians by the Kremlin. Critics say the app could be used for mass surveillance.

Taxi driver Alexey Popov applied for a protest against internet censorship in his Siberian town of Yakutsk. It was originally sanctioned for March 30, but that permission was later withdrawn, Popov, 27, told NBC News. The refusal letter from the municipal authorities, viewed by NBC News, stated that Popov could not hold a rally on any date because of “considerable attention” to the event from “destructive individuals.”

Plainclothes police officers question people gathered at a protest against internet restrictions in St. Petersburg, Russia on Sunday. (Andrei Bok / SOPA Images via Reuters) (Andrei Bok / SOPA Images via Reuters)

Popov said he was under no illusion that the protests would persuade the Kremlin not to further crack down, but said he didn’t want to give “silent approval” to what the government is doing. “We don’t agree with what is going on and we want to express that,” he said.

Popov said on a Telegram channel he runs that he was detained Saturday and then released on Monday. He told NBC News he was detained for disobeying police, a charge he disputes.

‘Wall of mistrust’

The indignation has also been expressed by those either aligned with the Kremlin or normally not politically involved.

The growing restrictions have come in parallel with outrage over the mass extermination of livestock in Siberia, which has wreaked havoc on local farmers, due to what authorities said was an infectious Pasteurellosis outbreak.

A lack of communication by the government appears to be at the core of these complaints.

“The wall of mistrust and misunderstanding between the people and the government is growing,” wrote pro-Kremlin journalist Anastasia Kashevarova in a post on Telegram last week, as she warned public revolt was the “fastest way to destroy Russia.”

A well-known Kremlin loyalist unexpectedly turned against Putin earlier this month, then landed in a psychiatric hospital. Ilya Remeslo cited the Kremlin’s “strangling of internet and media freedoms” as a sign the Russian leader had lost grip on reality.

Famous Russian blogger Victoria Bonya, known for fitness videos shared with nearly 13 million subscribers on Instagram, also complained about official communication on internet restrictions, as well as the livestock crisis and soaring prices affecting ordinary Russians. “Is the commander-in-chief, Vladimir Putin, aware of what is happening with the country or not?” she questioned in one of her videos earlier this month, in rare public criticism of the Russian leader.

And a pro-Kremlin newspaper recently came out with an unusually critical editorial. “The number of meaningless bans per capita is already off the charts. And again, no sensible explanations,” said Moskovsky Komsomolets earlier this month. It questioned whether authorities “consider us to be small children, unwise enough to explain anything to us and trust us.”

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