Interruptions With Wired Internet Started In Russia
- 16.11.2025, 17:19
The problems began on Nov. 15.
Residents of more than 10 Russian regions have complained about Rostelecom's wired Internet not working. The problems started on November 15, according to Downdetector, Failure.rf and user reports on the company's official VKontakte page. Then the Internet disappeared in Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma and Yaroslavl regions.
In the last region, the backbone channel was damaged, and that was the cause of the large-scale failure, Rostelecom said. The company specified that the accident occurred "due to the fault of third parties". In addition, the Internet was lost in Murmansk region, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District and partially - in Krasnodar region. At the same time, subscribers had working sites from the "white list" of the Ministry of Digitization, writes Sota.
Night and morning of November 16, users in Mari El, Udmurtia, Amur, Belgorod, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, Samara and Chelyabinsk regions also complained about problems with the Internet from Rostelecom.
The nature of the failure indicates that it was not just a cable break, Digital Report writes. "Such selectivity of access - while maintaining a 'white list' - is one of the scenarios envisioned by the 'sovereign Runet' law." It is still unclear whether the failure was the result of a failed exercise to 'isolate' the network, a centralized filtering command, or a large-scale breakdown of TSPU (technical means of countering threats) equipment," the publication notes.
The wired Internet outage began after Russian President Vladimir Putin held an operational meeting with members of the Security Council on "countering offenses that are committed using information and communication technologies." The Kremlin did not give details of that meeting. The speaker was Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
Not long before that, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on "rules for centralized management of the public communications network." As a result, Roskomnadzor was given the right to disconnect Runet from the global Internet and block any sites if there are "threats to the stability, security and integrity" of Internet functioning in the country. The response regulations will be coordinated with the Ministry of Digitization and the FSB.