Kremlin Internet Crackdown Causing Major Outages

The Kremlin's crackdown on websites linked to jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny and on technology used to evade online bans are causing major internet outages for the Russian public, say web monitors, online gaming firms and government critics.

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The Kremlin’s crackdown on websites linked to jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny and on technology used to evade online bans are causing major internet outages for the Russian public, say web monitors, online gaming firms and government critics.

The disruption shows how new tools that state communications regulator Roskomnadzor is deploying to exert greater control over the internet are causing unintended collateral damage.

GlobalCheck, a group that monitors websites’ accessibility in Russia, said there had been widespread disruption after Roskomnadzor blocked widely-used internet services in its bid to prevent access to a banned app backed by Navalny’s allies.

They hope to use the app to organise a tactical voting campaign to deal a blow to the ruling party at next week’s parliamentary elections. The government wants the app banned from online stores.

Between 5.23 p.m. and 10.13 p.m. on Wednesday, Roskomnadzor blocked Google and cybersecurity firm Cloudflare’s domain name system (DNS) services, which computers use to match website addresses with the correct servers, according to GlobalCheck.

As a result, swathes of the internet were down for Russians for about an hour on Wednesday evening, said IT expert Mikhail Klimarev, as did allies of Navalny on Twitter.

The regulator has told Apple, Alphabet’s Google, Cisco and Cloudflare to stop providing Navalny’s app with the means to bypass its blocking efforts, Interfax news agency reported.

It has also threatened Apple and Google with fines.

The campaign urges followers to sign up to be allocated a candidate judged to have the best chance of defeating United Russia in their election district.


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