Statement by the Yabloko Party, adopted on 20.08.2025, published on 21.08.2025

Photo by Yevgeny Razumny, Kommersant

What is happening today will go down in Russian history as a period when our society was thrown back in technical progress by years by decisions of the executive and legislative authorities. We are faced with restrictions on the use of popular social networks, YouTube has been effectively blocked, and in many regions there are failures in the operation of the mobile Internet in general.

On 13 August, 2025, Roskomnadzor [the Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications] announced that it had introduced “partial restrictions” (in reality, blocking) on ​​calls in the messengers WhatsApp and Telegram, popular in Russia, which allegedly became “the main voice calls platforms for deception and extortion of money, as well as for involving Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities”.

Along with the restrictions, the authorities are actively promoting the domestic Russian messenger MAX, which, according to experts, forcibly collects data on voice calls, correspondence and personal data of users, including bank accounts and transactions. The media have already reported cases of fraud through this service. Moreover, the statistics of the Central Bank for 2024 show that only 15% of cases of financial fraud are related to messengers, while 45% are committed with the use of traditional telephone communications and SMS. Consequently, the official arguments are untenable and only cover up the state’s inability to combat cybercrime.

According to different estimates, the monthly audience of WhatsApp and Telegram in Russia amounts to 90 – 100 million people. Thus, the restrictions directly affected the overwhelming majority of citizens of the country, who have been deprived of affordable and cheap communications.

The Yabloko party regards the introduced restrictions as an attack on the rights of citizens and another step towards establishing total state control over society and citizens.

The main reason for the new measures is not the protection of citizens, but the desire of the authorities to maximally control communications that cannot be intercepted and censored in popular international services. We are convinced that Russian citizens should have the right to freely choose means of communication, and the development of domestic digital services should occur exclusively on a competitive basis. The state’s attempts to put people’s communications under complete control contradict Articles 8, 23, 29 and 34 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and antitrust legislation, limit citizens in the free choice of voice communication services and further isolate Russia from the outside world.

We demand that the authorities immediately abandon the imposed restrictions.

Nikolai Rybakov,

Yabloko Chairman