Mobile internet restrictions disrupted access to online services in Moscow on May 5, 2026, ahead of the May 9 Victory Day celebrations. Russia’s Digital Development Ministry said later that day that the temporary restrictions had ended and network operators were restoring access.
Russia’s four major mobile operators had warned on May 4 of possible disruptions to mobile internet and text messages in Moscow and the surrounding region from May 5 to May 9, citing security measures for preparations and holiday events.
Yandex Go warned customers in Moscow that they could have difficulty ordering taxis. Sberbank said customers might struggle to access their accounts or receive SMS confirmation codes.
Some card transactions failed or required a second attempt, although many shops and restaurants continued to accept cards. Wi-Fi provided an alternative in some cafes, while other public access points were unavailable.
The Digital Development Ministry said targeted mobile internet shutdowns were imposed in response to security threats, including hostile drones. It said the restrictions reduced the accuracy of drone guidance and helped counter attacks. The ministry also said home internet and Wi-Fi were operating normally.
Approved services during restrictions
Russia uses a government-approved list of websites and applications intended to remain accessible during mobile internet restrictions. The list includes the Gosuslugi government services portal, Yandex, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
On May 5, the ministry said it was coordinating with law enforcement and security agencies to make a whitelist available during restrictions in Moscow. A woman living in central Moscow said the morning’s outage had also affected services on the approved list.
VPN restrictions and criticism
The outages came amid efforts to restrict virtual private networks, which people in Russia use to reach blocked platforms and other online services.
A 29-year-old social media marketer in Sakha said her work required access to Instagram and other restricted platforms. She said she typically downloaded a new VPN service about every six months when her existing service was blocked.
Writing about April internet disruptions, Natalya Kaspersky said VPN blocking was already interfering with programmers’ work, citing their reliance on foreign code repositories and artificial intelligence tools for software development.
Kaspersky argued that distinguishing VPN connections from ordinary encrypted web traffic was technically difficult. She said the software developers’ association Otechestvenny Soft sent a letter to the prime minister and the head of the presidential administration on April 22, explaining its objections to VPN blocking.
The letter’s conclusion, as she described it, was that VPNs could not be blocked effectively without severely disrupting the Russian internet.
Proposed charges for international data
A source familiar with discussions held on March 28 said Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev asked operators to introduce charges for monthly international mobile data use above 15 GB. A source in the telecommunications industry corroborated the account and said the measure was intended to begin before May 1.
MTS said at the time of the initial proposal that it had no information about plans to charge for VPN use and had introduced no restrictions.
Three people in organizations participating in discussions with the ministry subsequently said operators had sought a delay in mid-April. Two said billing systems could not be ready for the planned May 1 start.
The source familiar with the March discussions also said Shadayev had not ruled out administrative penalties for using circumvention tools, while expressing hope that penalties could be avoided. On March 31, Shadayev said the ministry opposed introducing liability for users and was pursuing measures to reduce VPN use.