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Russia Disrupts Telegram Access in Occupied Ukrainian Territories
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Russian authorities have begun artificially slowing down the Telegram messaging app in temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine.
This development follows previous assurances from officials that no such restrictions would be implemented in areas near the front lines. Residents in these occupied zones are experiencing significant service disruptions, according to Donbas Realities on March 19.
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In the Shchastia district of the Luhansk region, it has become nearly impossible to place calls to government-controlled Ukrainian territory, even when using a VPN.
Local residents report that connection delays can reach up to 20 seconds, or the connection fails entirely. Within the city of Luhansk, calls generally do not go through at all without the use of tools to bypass blocks. Users are currently forced to search for specific VPN services that have not yet been restricted by Roskomnadzor to maintain communication.
The technical issues with Telegram have become a frequent topic of discussion in local chat groups across the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Users describe the messenger as "constantly lagging" and "freezing," though text messages often still manage to send. Some residents have ironically suggested that people should "collectively write to Putin" in hopes of having the restrictions lifted.
Currently, VPNs remain the primary method for residents in these areas to stay connected, though these tools are becoming increasingly less effective as blocking efforts intensify.
Oleg Matveychev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, stated that Telegram could be "deported" from Russia like an "illegal migrant" if it did not comply with local laws.
These remarks coincided with massive outages across the country, where data from monitoring services showed over 18,000 complaints.
Users reported significant difficulties sending messages and loading media, while experts noted that the messenger was effectively failing to work via home and mobile internet providers for those using Russian IP addresses.
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