March 21, 2026

"Even grown men are like helpless children now." Muscovites have been living almost without internet for three weeks. Report from the center of the capital

Mobile internet outages began in Moscow on March 5 and continue two weeks later. According to Dmitry Peskov, the lack of connection is due to the fact that "the Kiev regime is using increasingly sophisticated methods for attacks, therefore more technological response measures are needed to ensure the safety of citizens." A correspondent for "Novaya-Europe" walked through the center of the city and observed how Muscovites are living. . "Help, give me a map!" A year ago, on Victory Day, internet was jammed in Moscow in the city center and near all the most important memorable places: communication did not work on Poklonnaya Hill, nor on Tverskaya, nor near the New Tretyakov Gallery. The Moscow authorities' first attempt was successful, and a year later, the internet completely disappeared in the center of the capital and its adjacent areas. Then the disconnections lasted less than a day. This March, it is easier to count the days when the internet in the capital worked without restrictions. Moving towards the center along the Sokolnicheskaya (red) metro line, I regularly measure internet speed using a special application. Approaching the "Park Kultury" station (Khamovniki district, Central Administrative Okrug. - Editorial note), the application stops working and asks to connect to the internet. Telegram does not want to work even with VPN, weather cannot be googled. But the music in my headphones continues to play: all Yandex services are included in the so-called "white lists" that work during mobile internet outages. For the first time in my life, I try to connect to the Moscow metro Wi-Fi, but it turns out to be not so simple. First, they don't redirect me to the network connection site for a long time, they show ads, and then I have to wait a few minutes for an SMS with a code for authorization. Without managing to connect, I leave the carriage. From March 6 to 10, according to the press service of the largest bookstore chain "Chitay-gorod", sales of paper maps in Moscow soared by almost 50%. To check if the sellers themselves felt this growth, I go into a bookstore in a neighboring shopping center. I ask the only saleswoman in the hall to show me the map rack, explaining that online maps have hardly worked for me in the city center lately. The woman advises me to find a "good proxy" and leads me to look at the atlases. While I'm looking at the rack, I ask if the internet outages bother her. "— We grit our teeth and live," answers the saleswoman. — I'm 40 years old, do you think I've had a phone in my hands since birth? We lived somehow! We met, we walked! — Yes, and I've had one almost since birth," I admit in response. — Yes, that's exactly why you are so helpless. — Do people buy these paper maps from you at all? — They are buying them right now, when everyone is left without the internet. Now even grown men are like helpless children: "Aaaa, help, give us a map!" Photo: Yaroslav Chingayev / Moscow Agency. A spare SIM card Small queues are noticeable at the mobile operator offices in the shopping center. I approach the Tele2 counter. A customer is interested in whether the internet will work if he gets a new SIM card and connects the most expensive tariff. — Currently, the internet does not work in the center from any operator," the employee explains tiredly. — You need to go several metro stations away from here. Only white lists like Gosuslugi, Sberbank, and so on work. The customer ponders and eventually decides to get a new SIM card - he says he will try to alternate it with his current one if the outages continue. — Maybe at least one SIM card will work," the man says hopefully, handing over his passport for the contract. There is an even longer queue at the MTS office. Two salon employees are signing new contracts - mainly young people among the customers. A girl in line says that she is a student at a nearby university and has been using an unlimited tariff from another operator for many years. But her tariff is expensive, and the internet in the center has completely stopped working, and the operator refuses to recalculate. The university has Wi-Fi, which saves her during her studies, but calls still don't go through, the girl complains. — Our internet is better than other operators," the manager explains confusedly and not very confidently to one of the clients. — The only thing is, it will probably work on 3G, but that's still better than many. And calls should go through with us. You know, the internet even works completely for someone on our SIM cards. But, frankly, for someone, it doesn't work at all. But it's more likely to work. Due to problems with telephone communication in Moscow, the demand for landline telephony, which has been steadily declining for many years, increased last week. And United Russia deputy Igor Antropenko proposed to start installing telephone booths in large cities, including those with internet access, so that Russians can stay connected. Photo: Vasily Kuzmicheonok / Moscow Agency. White Lists According to Eldar Murtazin, lead analyst at Mobile Research Group, in regions where disconnections have become regular, white lists - websites and applications that should function even during shutdowns - work differently. "There are disconnections when white lists work [entirely], and there are those when only specific resources work in the white lists," the expert told RTVI. — So, even within the white list, there is a gradation. And there are also disconnections when only voice calls work and nothing else works, including what is in the white list." This is true: Yandex Music, for example, played in my headphones throughout the walk. Marketplace websites also loaded for me, but I still couldn't order anything: it required a banking application, and it didn't work without mobile internet. Muscovite Evgenia, who spoke with "Novaya-Europe", also faced poor performance of white-listed applications. The girl said that in her area of Moskvorechye-Saburovo in the south of the capital, the internet is particularly often disconnected near state institutions: schools, hospitals, polyclinics. According to her, even white lists stop working there. A few days ago, Evgenia went to the doctor, having forgotten to write down the exact time of her visit and the room number in advance - she planned to look them up out of habit at the polyclinic in the MOS.ru application, which is on the white list, but she could not open it. — I came to the polyclinic, and the network simply didn't work in principle," says Evgenia. — I couldn't see the details of my appointment, for example, the doctor's office, his last name. The only option is to print out paper tickets using the policy through the terminals at the entrance, as in the old days. Some Muscovites buy special VPNs that bypass white lists: these VPNs mask the user's traffic as permitted, allowing them to use the internet during a partial shutdown when white lists are operational. — Last Thursday, I was supposed to meet a friend in the center," a friend told me. — I was about 20 minutes late and couldn't inform her, the internet disappeared as soon as I left home. She lost me and left, deciding that I wouldn't arrive. After that, the girl installed a special VPN that bypasses white lists - according to her, even blocked Telegram works through it.