By Tuesday afternoon, February 27, Telegram users reported widespread glitches. Data from the Telegram Info channel showed the messenger freezing around 12:35 Moscow time. Residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, and Novosibirsk described trouble accessing the app. Users in other countries, including Belarus, the United States, and Germany, also experienced issues.
Some users noted that connections over mobile data failed while Wi-Fi remained stable. Others reported that only certain features were unavailable, such as downloading media files.
Problems extended to other services as well. Users could not access YouTube, Viber, or WhatsApp, and RBC reporters reported difficulties with Zoom as well. Telecommunication providers Megafon, Tele2 and Beeline acknowledged service-side access problems. Megafon said there was a measurable decrease in traffic to Telegram and several other services.
Arseny Shcheltsin, General Manager of ANO Digital Platforms, told NSN that the outages might be linked to testing new Russian software. He suggested the disruptions were not necessarily a deliberate sabotage, but testing activities could be involved.
Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications, Anton Gorelkin, commented on his Telegram channel that outages can stem from a range of causes, including human factors and hacker attempts, and such incidents are likely to recur.
Anton Tkachev, another Deputy Chairman of the same committee, later explained that the outages resulted from verification and reconfiguration of Roskomnadzor gateways. He noted the presence of several sites and VPN services operating illegally within Russia, which can lead to restricted access. He added that Roskomnadzor systems are undergoing restructurings, and some systems may temporarily fail as a result.
Election-related context
Access to Telegram was restored about two hours later, according to RIA Novosti. By 15:25 Moscow time no fault data was recorded on monitoring platforms.
Some users reported that Instagram, Facebook, and X—networks associated with Meta Platforms—remained blocked in Russia without a VPN, reflecting the current regulatory environment. Andrey Svintsov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee, explained in an interview with socialbites.ca that security measures ahead of the presidential elections may limit access to some services. He indicated that restrictions would be tightened as needed to protect infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Svintsov emphasized that the usual procedures govern access restrictions and that there is no expectation of broad removal of bans. He also observed that residents are increasingly turning to domestic platforms as Western services stay restricted.
Steam access limitations
On February 27, Roskomnadzor (RKN) reportedly restricted the Steam gaming platform within the country. The regulator added the steamcommunity.com site to the prohibited list, potentially affecting user profiles, friends lists, and access to the Workshop and Marketplace. The ban followed a Ministry of Internal Affairs decision dated February 22, though the exact rationale was not disclosed.
Subsequently, Roskomnadzor stated that the regulator does not restrict access to steamcommunity.com. A request to remove content related to illicit substances was fulfilled, and the page was removed from the Unified Register of Prohibited Information after the offending material was taken down.
Attribution: Events summarized from multiple official statements and media reports. See statements from Roskomnadzor, the State Duma committees, and national outlets for context.