Russia's St. Petersburg at risk of three-day mobile internet blackout amid Putin visit
Photo: Mobile internet outage in St. Petersburg (Getty Images)
Details of the major outage
According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, residents of the city are experiencing widespread issues: websites are not opening, mobile applications are not working, and even services from so-called "whitelists" are operating inconsistently.
With each passing hour, the number of complaints about connectivity disruptions continues to increase.
Locals expect that full mobile internet access will not be restored for at least another three days.
"In other words, for the sake of the Russian dictator’s security, an entire city is having its mobile internet cut off during the main economic event of the year," the Center for Countering Disinformation noted.
Image for foreigners and reality
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (PMEF) serves as the Kremlin’s main "showcase" for foreign guests. Russian authorities have invested enormous budget resources into the event for years.
"Over the years, the Kremlin has invested enormous budget resources in PMEF in order to create an image of a 'successful Russia' for foreign guests — a stable economy and an attractive investment climate. Instead, forum attendees will see the reality of a country facing the consequences of launching an aggressive war against Ukraine," the Center for Countering Disinformation emphasized.
Internet shutdowns in Russia
In early May, a large-scale outage was recorded in Moscow and the Moscow region, leaving thousands of residents of the Russian capital without home internet. Users of various providers massively reported a lack of network access via Wi-Fi, with even the pages of the providers themselves failing to open.
Later, the Financial Times found that the internet problems in Moscow were related to Putin’s security. The Kremlin significantly strengthened protection of the Russian President amid fears of assassination attempts following Ukraine’s drone operation Spiderweb, which directly affected communications.
In addition, Russian authorities have taken even more radical steps. In Moscow on May 9, mobile internet and SMS services were completely shut down. At that time, restrictions affected even so-called "whitelist" websites, and the decision was explained as being necessary to "ensure security" during the holiday events.
