Mobile internet not working in Moscow for a week, businesses losing billions

Photo: Jon Hicks / Getty Images

Mobile internet has not been working in the central districts of Moscow for a week now. Operators state that it's beyond their control. Authorities do not name deadlines for when the disruptions will end, explaining it as a concern for security. It's possible that the exercises to fine-tune the "white lists," which have been ongoing across the country since late 2025, have reached the capital, writes the BBC.

Data from the Center for Monitoring and Management of Public Communication Networks, subordinate to Roskomnadzor, indicates that problems are occurring for subscribers of several operators, including the "big four" — MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, and T2.

Authorities did not warn about this. Users first noticed problems with mobile internet on the evening of March 5. Initially — in the Southern Administrative District, reported the publication "Kod Durova," and then in the central part of the city.

Users noted that sites from the "white list" of services approved by the authorities, which should be accessible even during outages, were working. VPN does not help bypass them. However, one Moscow resident interviewed by the publication said that even sites from the "list" were not working for him.

"Moreover, in the same place, the connection can disappear and reappear, but the moments of appearance are usually shorter than the moments of its unavailability," a Muscovite marvels at what is happening.

According to him, the connection in the metro also sometimes disappears, sometimes appears, and everything works better than usual beyond the Koltsevaya Line of the metro: "This morning, in the area of 'Belorusskaya' station, I had a connection, but in the metro, I think, it was mostly absent. Then I popped out in the area of 'Paveletskaya' station, had a connection again, and then it disappeared."

Due to the disruptions, the Muscovite was also unable to call a taxi.

A BBC interlocutor from a taxi service said that drivers are angered by what is happening.

Taxi ordering services are taking measures to operate without mobile internet. For example, Yandex offers drivers to go online and accept orders using a phone, by calling and selecting options by pressing numbers on the keypad and receiving SMS confirmations.

The newspaper "Kommersant," citing sources, wrote that mobile operators are restricting communication at the request of the authorities. On March 6, operators reported that the connection was disappearing for reasons independent of them. No one knows anything about how long this might continue, sources of The Bell publication claim on the market.

On March 7, the connection began to be disconnected, apparently, by coverage zones, not by districts. So, on one side of the street, internet and mobile communication might be present, on the other — not.

Analysis by the publication "Agency" showed that the disconnections primarily affect the central districts of Moscow.

Similar disruptions, though not on such a scale, are also observed in the center of St. Petersburg. One city resident told the publication that outside the center, everything works normally, even Telegram without VPN.

On March 10, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the restrictions were related to "ensuring security," and the next day added that the disconnections were legal and would continue for as long as necessary.

A Kommersant interlocutor on the IT market estimates business losses at 3 to 5 billion rubles.

Among those most affected are courier services, carsharing, and retail trade using mobile payment terminals. Against this backdrop, the number of wired internet connections continues to grow.

Why is this happening?

The publication RBC, citing a source in the information security market, reported that authorities are testing "white lists." This technology began to be applied in autumn 2025 to mitigate the consequences of mobile internet disconnections for people, which authorities explain as a fight against Ukrainian drone attacks.

While previous censorship methods operated on the principle of "everything is allowed that is not forbidden," the "white list" acts on the principle of "everything is forbidden except what is allowed." This is how, for example, the internet is blocked in Iran. The idea is that this allows people to access certain resources when mobile internet is unavailable. The Ministry of Digital Development updates the list of such resources.

Currently, this list includes websites of state structures, some large banks, delivery services, taxis, marketplaces, and propaganda media.

The "lists" are not yet fully configured. Firstly, they are not regulated by any law; secondly, since they began to operate, users constantly complain that they either do not function or do so with interruptions. Nevertheless, some commentators suggest that the "lists" are about the image of a future RuNet isolated from the world, which explains the hypothesis that the events in Moscow are a fine-tuning of this technology. Authorities have never confirmed this and explain any disruptions as security measures.

Until now, such major internet problems in the Russian capital only occurred in May 2025 after Ukrainian drone attacks. Then, mobile internet began to be constantly disconnected across the country. Some cities lived without mobile internet for months.

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