MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – Millions of mobile phone users in Russia had temporary problems on Tuesday with access to websites or apps from Domain.ru. Users in the Russian capital Moscow reported that their banking apps did not work, but service portals, social networks and news sites were also unavailable. The Ministry of Digitalization announced in Moscow in the evening that the technical problems would soon be resolved.
A specific reason for the breakdown, which was noticeable in several parts of Russia, was not given. Sites such as the German Domain.de could still be reached from Moscow via mobile phones.
Experts had repeatedly warned that the Kremlin chief Wladimir Putin The creation of an independent Russian Internet would lead to failures. It is also planned to transfer all Russian Internet users to a national DNS server. Independent experts attributed the serious breakdown at the end of the month to these government interventions.
Media last reported internet problems in some parts of Russia’s far east on February 24th. Accordingly, there were problems with using the social networks WhatsApp and Telegram for days. In other regions, the authorities announced that the mobile Internet would be switched off at night due to technical work. According to a report in the Kommersant newspaper, this could involve work on improving air defense to protect against Ukrainian drone attacks.
In the capital Moscow, disoriented taxi drivers repeatedly complain about navigation systems not working properly. But there are also many direct blocks of internet portals. Russian authorities have blocked thousands of websites with non-governmental content. They are only accessible via protected connections via VPN server./mau/DP/he