Russia to Enforce Telegram Ban Across Country April 1

On February 17, 2026, Russia’s telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, is gearing up for a nationwide Telegram blackout starting April 1.

The move escalates ongoing efforts to throttle the popular messaging app, targeting both mobile and fixed-line internet connections while explicitly blocking VPN-based workarounds.

Technically, the ban will use deep packet inspection (DPI) across major ISPs such as Rostelecom, MTS, and Beeline. Sources indicate that Roskomnadzor will expand its existing IP range blocks, which already number over 500,000, Telegram-related addresses, and introduce protocol-level filtering.

This builds on 2025’s speed throttling experiments, in which DPI signatures matched Telegram’s MTProto encryption patterns, capping download speeds at 128 Kbps and disrupting voice-over-IP (VoIP) calls by injecting latency spikes of up to 500ms. Message delivery failures hit 40-60% during peak tests in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Fraud schemes via Telegram bots and extremist propaganda channels. Roskomnadzor claims that the app’s end-to-end encryption (using 256-bit AES and Diffie-Hellman key exchange) hinders moderation and that it refused over 12,000 content removal requests last year.

A State Duma lawmaker told RIA Novosti that access could resume if Telegram founder Pavel Durov complies with Russia’s sovereign internet laws, potentially integrating backdoors for real-time metadata logging or implementing client-side scanning akin to Apple’s NeuralHash proposals.

Ban Potential Impact

Telegram, with 900 million global users, including 50 million in Russia, has become a lifeline since Western apps like WhatsApp and Signal faced partial blocks. Durov, exiled in Dubai, dismissed the ban as futile, tweeting that MTProto 2.0’s obfuscated channel, which randomizes packet headers mimicking HTTPS traffic, can evade most DPI filters.

Early tests show 70% success rates against Russian firewalls using these features. Users are pivoting to alternatives. VPN adoption surged 300% after throttling, but Roskomnadzor now targets obfuscated protocols such as WireGuard’s Noise framework and Shadowsocks. Apps like imo gain traction for lighter encryption (AES-128), though they lack Telegram’s secret chats.

Cybersecurity experts warn of ripple effects: increased reliance on Tor bridges could strain exit nodes, while black-market VPNs risk man-in-the-middle attacks. Russia’s RuNet isolation deepens, testing the limits of sovereign control versus resilient protocols.

Site cybersecuritypath.com