Russia blocked Telegram

In recent weeks, internet censorship in Russia has intensified. Russian ISPs have reportedly begun experimenting with whitelisting approaches and implementing a new form of CDN blocking that interrupts content downloads after approximately 16–20 kilobytes of data have been transferred, rendering many online services unusable within the country.

In addition, Russian authorities have reportedly set a timeline to block access to Telegram—one of the most widely used messaging platforms in Russia—by early April 2026. However, OONI data suggests that many ISPs in Russia began blocking access to Telegram as early as 20th March 2026.

The following chart aggregates OONI measurement coverage from the OONI Probe testing of Telegram on 547 ASes in Russia between 28th February 2026 to 30th March 2026.

As is evident from the chart above, OONI Probe testing of Telegram shows an initial increase in the volume of anomalies around 15th March 2026, followed by a significant spike on 20th March 2026 that persisted thereafter, suggesting that many tested ISPs in Russia began blocking access to Telegram on that date. Many of the anomalous measurements show that HTTP GET requests to Telegram endpoints result in connection resets or timeout errors.

The blocking of Telegram is further suggested by a per-AS measurement breakdown, which shows a spike in anomalies on many networks from 20th March 2026 onwards. Some of the networks presenting the largest volumes of anomalies – and, therefore, the strongest signals of Telegram blocking – include PJSC Rostelecom (AS12389), PJSC "Vimpelcom" (AS8402), MTS PJSC (AS8359), and "Central Telegraph" Public Joint-stock Company (AS8615). It’s worth noting though that the measurement coverage varies across networks (presenting a limitation to findings), and that the Telegram block is not visible on all tested networks in Russia.

Beyond Telegram, Russia is also blocking other major messaging apps, including WhatsApp and Signal, as well as social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, in addition to numerous independent news media outlets.

If you are in Russia, you can help test Telegram and contribute more measurements by running OONI Probe.