Russia Experiences New Telegram Outages

Russia - Ekhbary News Agency

On January 22, 2026, Russia experienced another wave of disruptions affecting the popular messaging application Telegram, according to data from the service Downdetector. Users across the country are encountering increasing difficulties with sending text messages and uploading multimedia files such as photos and videos. Over 900 outage reports were logged by the platform in the past 24 hours, with the latest hour's complaints concentrated in regions including Yamalo-Nenets, Moscow, and the Saratov Oblast. This follows previous intermittent issues that have plagued the service.

These recurring outages are reportedly linked to measures implemented by Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor). The agency previously restricted voice calls on Telegram and WhatsApp in August 2025, followed by "partial restrictions" on both platforms in October. Officially, these actions are attributed to the alleged use of these messengers by scammers and their failure to comply with Russian legislation aimed at combating criminal activities.

Since the introduction of these restrictions, service disruptions have become a regular occurrence. In December, the number of user complaints increased, although the regulator stated that no new restrictions were imposed. Reports of alleged additional restrictions surfaced on January 16, but Roskomnadzor denied this information in a comment to Hi-Tech Mail. The situation highlights an ongoing tension between the platform's operations and Russian governmental oversight.

In a related development, Federation Council member Artyom Sheikin stated the previous day that Russia is consistently imposing restrictions on platforms that do not adhere to Russian law. President Vladimir Putin has previously commented on the influence of messengers among the youth demographic. Sergey Boyarsky, head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, has spoken about potential conditions for a complete platform block. Despite these concerns, authorities reportedly believe the messenger will continue to operate within the country. Ekhbary Portal