Russia’s new restrictions on the messaging app Telegram have sparked widespread dissatisfaction, especially because of their potential impact on soldiers’ communication with their families while on the battlefield.
The Russian Communications Regulatory Authority, which began restricting voice and video calls on the application since last August, announced its intention to tighten restrictions, justifying this by Telegram’s lack of response to efforts to combat criminal and terrorist activities.
A number of users reported a noticeable slowdown in the application’s performance this week.
In a series of short video clips, three men, who claimed to be members of a Russian anti-drone unit, appealed to the authority not to interfere in the work of “Telegram,” stressing the extreme importance of the application in accomplishing their tasks.
The leader of a pro-Kremlin parliamentary party, Sergei Mironov, posted the videos, expressing concern that the soldiers’ lives might be in danger. He said: “The men are shedding their blood there, and they need normal communications, and with the exception of Telegram, they mostly have nothing… Don’t deprive them of what helps them fight the enemy and preserve their lives.”
Mironov also described those responsible for disrupting the application as “idiots.”
Telegram is very popular in Russia as a means of public and private communications, making any restrictions imposed on it a subject of great concern and criticism by users and observers alike.
