March 5, 2026

Putin signaled his agreement to a complete ban on Telegram, including on the front lines. Military personnel were put forward as initiators of the idea

On the eve of March 8, Vladimir Putin held a meeting with female military personnel and used their statements, which could justify a total blocking of Telegram, including in the zone of hostilities. This is reported by "Agentstvo" and "Vazhnye istorii". During the meeting, Putin gave the floor to Lieutenant Colonel Irina Godunova, commander of a communications battalion in the Aerospace Forces. The military woman began to talk about blocking the messenger: "The issue of blocking Telegram has now been raised, and it is such an enemy type of communication. We need to develop something of our own, improve it, accordingly, finalize Max, and everything will be fine at the front," she said. Then Putin twice asked if Godunova agreed that using Telegram in the troops was dangerous. He did not mention the name of the messenger itself: - Do you also agree with the opinion that the use of communication systems that are not ours and not under our control poses a danger to personnel? - Of course, of course, it poses a danger, yes. - That is, the use of types of communication that are not controlled by us poses a danger to personnel, right? - Yes. Last week, RBC reported that Telegram would be blocked in Russia in early April. An exception would allegedly be made only for the zone of military operations. RKN intensified the "slowdown" of Telegram on February 10. According to the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, the messenger ignored 150,000 requests from the Russian Federation to remove materials with prohibited information.