Moscow counts Ukrainian drone by shutting down the mobile internet of Russians

Katya’s phone suddenly refused to provide the basics required to run a house from St. Petersburg to Moscow. He, his partner and countless others were unable to go online, were cutting from their apps for things such as maps, banking, paying road tolls and fuel. There was no warning, there was no indication of how broad the outage was, there was no clue how long it would last – but it was not a surprise, either. Russia’s mobile internet network now has continuous blackouts due to war with Ukraine.Since last month, authorities have closed those networks every day for hours in different parts of the country, in unexpected patterns. The goal is to try to thwart attacks by Ukrainian drones that use mobile connections for navigation. This is a major disruption in a country where smartphones provide the only online access to millions of people. The government regularly avoids an array of online services, including filing tax returns and applying for jobs, and President Putin claimed this year that Russia “was one step ahead of many other countries.,Nevertheless, “they can turn off the internet,” said Katya. He explained how the government encouraged dependence on apps and web services – and then used control over internet access – as “digital gulag”. The Russian government holds a record of restricting online independence. But the mobile internet shutdown is the collateral damage of the war, reacting to long distance bombers in Russian bases on 1 June to react to Ukraine’s spectacular drone attacks.Day-to-day orders come from regional authorities to shut down mobile internet which respond to drone infiltration reported instead of Moscow. “The Kremlin is asking regional authorities to a defend against the drone – a deported Russian Digital Rights Group, head of the Internet Protection Society. This year, officials shut down mobile internet in Moscow for a few days before the annual Vijay Day Parade in May, a major program for Putin, hosting several world leaders. The outage highlighted the dependence of muscovites on apps for contactless payments, taxis, food distribution and shopping, but dissatisfaction was quite silent. A lawyer said that the lack of protest indicated to the regional authorities that “you can just shut down the Internet” said a lawyer without a backlash. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said, “Everything that is connected to ensure public safety is appropriate.” NYT