Is the Kremlin backing down? The Russian authorities decided to ease the pressure on Telegram due to the fall in Putin's rating

In Russia, they decided to slow down with Internet blocking due to a drop in the approval rating authorities, writes Bloomberg. The Lockdown Initiative, which came from the FSB, criticized from some high-ranking officials. They warned that further lockdowns carry There is too much risk for politics and the economy. According to Forbes, the authorities decided to reduce pressure by easing the blocking of Telegram "In their opinion, this should help relieve the tension that has been growing since the beginning of the year.

Is the Kremlin backing down?

The Russian authorities, who have long tried to take total control of the Internet, seem ready to back down. The reason for the possible "thaw" was not a sudden respect for digital freedoms, but a pragmatic calculation: the lockdowns began to hit Vladimir Putin's popularity.

According to Bloomberg and Forbes, the government and the Kremlin are discussing the possibility of easing restrictions on Telegram. Several senior officials have warned the country's leadership of the serious political and economic risks that further tightening the screws on the network brings.

Although the FSB has pushed for tighter control, other officials point to growing public discontent. It is associated not only with interruptions in the work of messengers, but also with the general economic background: rising prices and recent tax changes.

The main reason is falling ratings

The Kremlin is seriously concerned that the daily inconveniences caused by the lockdowns have begun to affect the attitude of citizens towards the president. According to the state-run VTsIOM, the level of trust in Putin has fallen by more than 8 percentage points since January, amounting to 67,8%. By early March, this figure had reached its lowest since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Blocking is especially acute in large cities among the "active and wealthy population", which is already critical. In March, Moscow, which is home to more than 13 million people, experienced large-scale mobile internet outages for several weeks — the authorities called it "security measures," but in fact it looked like a test of total control systems over infrastructure.

What is happening with "import substitution"?

In parallel with the attacks on Telegram, the authorities tried to transfer Russians to a domestic "super-application" Max (analogous to the Chinese WeChat). However, the success of this initiative is doubtful, and the popularity of Telegram within the country remains extremely high.

The founder of the messenger, Pavel Durov, who is under investigation in Russia for criticizing censorship, continues to call on users to "digital resistance." He advises stocking up on VPN services and promises to continue improving Telegram's decentralized technologies to bypass blocking.

What do the authorities say officially?

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a recent briefing actually confirmed that the restrictions are temporary. "It is clear that restrictions on the Internet cause inconvenience for many citizens, but now is such a period," he said, promising that the work of the network will be "normalized" when there is no need for such measures.

Why is this important right now?

It is extremely important for the Kremlin to stabilize public sentiment in the run-up to parliamentary elections, scheduled for September. The fall in the rating undermines the official narrative of the "full unity of the people" around the figure of the president in the context of a protracted military conflict.

It is not yet clear how far the authorities are willing to go in their retreat. But the very fact that the discussion about easing lockdowns shows that even in the face of heavy censorship, the Kremlin is forced to look back at public opinion when it begins to threaten the stability of the regime.