Telegram Blocked In Two Russian Regions – Report

The Telegram messaging app is reportedly being blocked in two locations in Russia (in the Caucasus regions), over alleged security concerns.

Reuters noted that the TASS state news agency on Saturday had quoted a regional digital development minister as saying that authorities in two Russian regions had blocked Telegram because of concerns that the app could be used by enemies.

And they were not referring to Ukraine it seems. Dagestan and Chechnya are the locations, and are mainly Muslim regions in southern Russia where Russian intelligence services have allegedly registered an increase in militant Islamist activity.

Telegram blocked

“It (Telegram) is often used by enemies, an example of which is the riots at the Makhachkala airport,” Yuri Gamzatov, Dagestan’s digital development minister was quoted as saying, adding that the decision to block the messenger had been made at the federal level.

Gamzatov was referring to an anti-Israel riot in Dagestan in October 2023, when a mob of 1,200 protesters stormed an airport to try to attack passengers arriving on a plane from the Jewish state. No passengers were injured, and authorities have prosecuted several people over the incident.

News of the plane’s arrival had spread on local Telegram channels, where users posted calls for antisemitic violence. Telegram condemned the attack and said it would block the channels.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the blocks in Russia, Reuters noted.

Meanwhile the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times, which was banned in Russia in July 2024, reported that a minister in Russia’s republic of Chechnya on Monday had slammed the federal government decision to block the Telegram messaging app in the region.

Akhmed Dudayev, Chechnya’s information and national policy minister, reportedly called on Russian federal authorities to lift what he described as the “absolutely unreasonable and irrational” ban.

“If this is not prejudice, what’s the reason for choosing the republic of Chechnya? How does the situation here differ from other Russian regions?” he was quoted as saying by the Moscow Times.

Telegram security

Telegram was in the headlines in September 2024 when Ukraine had banned government officials, military personnel and other defence and critical infrastructure workers from installing the messaging app on their state-issued devices, over national security concerns and allegations over Telegram’s links to Russia.

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of Telegram, had last year been arrested in France, amid a police investigation into him allegedly allowing a wide range of crimes on the platform due to a lack of content moderators, coupled with a lack of co-operation with police.

In December last year, Telegram joined an online child protection scheme, after years of refusal and to engage with such requests.

Dubai-based Telegram is widely used in countries across the former Soviet Union and Middle East, and is said to be the most popular instant messaging application in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

It was founded in 2013 by Nikolai and Pavel Durov and has been growing steadily since then. It is said to have close to 1 billion users.

Pavel Durov had left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.

Russia troubles

Russian authorities had previously accused Telegram of enabling terrorists to communicate in secret, and the app was also previously used by Islamic State for propaganda purposes.

Telegram refused to comply with demands from Russia’s FSB Federal Security Service which wanted access to some messages. Durov has always been vocal against the sharing of confidential data with government entities.

Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the app refused to comply with a court order granting state security services access to its users’ encrypted messages.

However in 2020, access to Telegram was restored in Russia, sparking speculation that Telegram could have ties to the Russian government – an allegation that Telegram continues to deny.