The Russians remain without WhatsApp and YouTube. Moscow invokes measures to “secure security”

The Russian government blocked the mobile internet in several regions, invoking “security measures” and published a list of locally developed applications on Friday. The governors of the regions on the east border of Russia have several times claimed that interruptions are needed in the context of Ukrainian attacks.

The applications exempted from the blockage include government services and online stores, MIR electronic payment system and Max messenger, supported by the Russian state.

In contrast, interruptions will affect foreign competing services, including the meta Meta's Messaging, used by about 97.8 million users from Russia, Telegram, based in Dubai, owned by Pavel Durov, originally from Russia, located second with 90.9 million users and the YouTube platform from Alphabet.

The data show that the number of users of the VK Messenger service, ranked third in the field of direct communication between users, has increased to 16.7 million. The Max service is now pre-installed on all phones and tablets sold in Russia and communicated this week that it has 30 million users. Both are developed by the VK company, controlled by the state.

The Ministry of Digital Development in Moscow has claimed that it has a “special technical solution” that allows the functioning of local applications, and “the measure will reduce the discomfort caused by citizens of the mobile internet inoperies needed to ensure security.”

Officially, neither drones nor Ukraine were mentioned in this context.

The governors of the regions on the east border of Russia have claimed several times that the interruptions are necessary to prevent the Ukrainians from using the drones.

At the same time, Moscow is increasingly promoting its domestic services on the Internet and controlling the local online space, Reuters remarked, according to Agerpres. Foreign applications were restricted, in larger disputes with technology platforms abroad, especially after Russian forces triggered the war, invading Ukraine.

Some online monitoring services have reported an increase in the number of Russian internet complaints on the weak WESApp connectivity and periodic interruption of mobile connections.