Russia’s efforts to restrict virtual private networks amid a clampdown on the Telegram messaging platform triggered a massive banking outage across the country this week, according to Telegram founder Pavel Durov. In a post on Saturday, Durov said that although Telegram was officially banned in Russia, around 65 million Russians continue to use it daily through VPNs. “The government has spent years trying to ban VPNs too. Their blocking attempts just triggered a massive banking failure; cash briefly became the only payment method nationwide yesterday,” he wrote.
Industry sources cited by Russian media outlets including The Bell suggested that Friday’s attempts to limit VPN use may have overloaded the filtering systems run by the country’s communications watchdog, sparking disruptions to banking apps. Experts warned that such heavy-handed restrictions on internet traffic risk destabilizing critical networks. Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the outages.
In a related development, payments for Apple Inc.’s app store and other services became unavailable in Russia from April 1. The US company did not provide a reason, though earlier reports suggested that the Russian Digital Development Ministry had instructed mobile operators to disable top-ups, a measure that could indirectly limit VPN use.
The banking outage comes amid Moscow’s broader campaign to tighten control over digital platforms and push citizens toward a state-run “super-app” called Max, modeled after China’s WeChat. Platforms such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Telegram have faced restrictions, and authorities have recently intensified efforts to curb VPN access. Domestic IT and e-commerce companies are being pressured to block users connecting via VPNs, with proposals including fees for high-volume international traffic and restricted access for VPN users starting April 15.
Durov, who is under investigation in Russia for allegedly aiding terrorist activity, compared the situation to Iran, where similar measures prompted widespread VPN adoption rather than driving users to state-backed messaging apps. “Welcome back to the Digital Resistance, my Russian brothers and sisters,” he wrote, adding that Telegram would continue adapting to make its traffic harder to detect and block, signaling an ongoing standoff between Russian authorities and internet users determined to circumvent digital restrictions.
