Russians might be getting fed up with the Kremlinmaking their lives harder and more isolatedin 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 majormobile internet blackout in Moscowand thethrottling of the 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, withlittle 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," information technology specialist Alexander Isavnin said.
"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 the Moscow region.
"We basically live in a digital concentration camp," he said.
Engaging in any form of protest has become increasingly dangerous sincea crackdown on free speech was intensifiedfollowing the2022 invasion of Ukraine. Even before the war, mass gatherings had to be sanctioned by local authorities. Most are still denied on grounds likeCovidrestrictions, which don't seem to apply to government-approved events.
Still, the increasing limits on digital freedoms appear to have hit a nerve with many Russians, despite the Kremlin's long-standing drive for greater control of their lives.
With state television 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 and political strategist Dmitry Kisiev was among those calling for mass gatherings March 29, a symbolic reference to Article 29 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of thought and speech.
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 said Tuesday that at least 25 people were arrested across Russia for protesting digital restrictions Sunday, 18 of them in Moscow. 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 saidthey 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 to the lives of millions in the country.
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Russian authorities have said that 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, adding that the real motivation seems obvious. "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 grewearlier this monthfeatured a children's choir, with members 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 torun for president against Putin in 2024and 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 concerns, he said.
"The slogans are clear," he said. "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 Monday, 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."
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 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," pro-Kremlin journalist Anastasia Kashevarova wrote in a post on Telegram last week, as she warned that public revolt was the "fastest way to destroy Russia."
Awell-known Kremlin loyalist unexpectedly turned against Putinearlier 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," Moskovsky Komsomolets said 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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