Telegram is increasingly restricted in Russia and could be completely banned, but the bans will not apply to the so-called “special military operation” area. This refers to the occupied territories of Ukraine.
According to Meduza, the statement was made by the Minister of Communications, Maksut Shadaev. The Kremlin official said he hopes the military can quickly switch to other communication platforms developed in Russia.
“It was decided not to restrict Telegram operations in the special military operation area at this time. But we hope that, over time, our army will be able to adapt and switch to Russian services,” Shadaev said.
The official was confident that Western special services use the platform against Russian troops. No evidence to support his claims was presented.
According to several Russian media sources, the complete blocking of Telegram could be finalized by the Kremlin in April.
At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has proposed limiting cash withdrawals at cash desks and imposing maximum values for purchases through NFC – electronic payment systems, typically used for payment with a phone. Every day, Russians could transfer a maximum of 50,000 rubles through these systems.