Press Release, 15.08.2025

Photo: Arthur Gaiduk / Photo by Pskov Yabloko

Pskov Regional Assembly deputy from Yabloko Arthur Gaiduk sent an appeal to Federal Antimonopoly Service head Maxim Shaskolsky requesting a check of the legality of Roskomnadzor’s (Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications) decision to restrict calls for Russians in foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp.

The deputy cites statistics showing that WhatsApp’s monthly reach among Russian residents aged over 12 at the end of July 2025 was 96.2 million people, Telegram – 89.8 million people, with average daily reach of WhatsApp and Telegram being 81.8 million people and 67.4 million people respectively. Thus, the situation affects the absolute majority of Russian citizens.

Officially, the regulator stated that “according to law enforcement data and numerous citizen appeals”, Telegram and WhatsApp have become “the main voice services used for fraud and money extortion, involving Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities”.

Arthur Gaiduk, however, refers to Central Bank of Russia data showing that in 45% of cases fraudsters used mobile phone calls for fraud and money extortion and only in 16% of cases used calls through messengers.

Furthermore, according to Kaspersky Lab data, in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, the share of Russian users who encountered classic calls suspected of fraud rose by almost 3% to 43%, which also reflects the real situation with fraudsters using ordinary mobile phone calls to commit crimes.

Artur Gaiduk also notes that, according to media reports, the largest mobile operators MTS, MegaFon, Beeline and Tele2 appealed to the Russian government requesting to block calls in Telegram and WhatsApp.

In his appeal to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Arthur Gaiduk refers to Constitutional norms stating that everyone has the right to freely seek, receive, transmit, produce and distribute information by any lawful means. The Constitution also guarantees unity of economic space, free movement of goods, services and financial resources, support for competition, and freedom of economic activity.

In the deputy’s opinion, blocking calls in Telegram and WhatsApp restricts citizens in their free choice of voice communication services, provokes additional expenses, compels them to use the national messenger MAX, and creates illegal competitive advantages for mobile operators and for the messenger MAX.

Arthur Gaiduk asks the Federal Antimonopoly Service to establish on the basis of which act of which federal executive body calls in Telegram and WhatsApp were restricted, and to check this document for compliance with federal legislation.