Mobile Internet Service Was Shut Down In Central Moscow
- 27.10.2026, 16:13
Because of the summit attended by Putin.
Following the start of two international forums in Moscow, where Vladimir Putin is scheduled to speak, residents of the capital’s central districts lost mobile internet access.
Internet access disruptions have been reported, in particular, in Kitay-Gorod and near Okhotny Ryad, according to a correspondent from RBC. According to the correspondent, internet access is currently limited to “whitelisted” sites.
Muscovites told “Ostrozhno, Novosti” that mobile internet speeds have dropped by a factor of 17–18. For most users, only state-approved websites are accessible, such as VK, “Gosuslugi,” Yandex services, major marketplaces, and the Max messenger. According to measurements conducted by Hi-Tech Mail, connection speeds have dropped to 28.02 Mbit/s. According to other data, they do not exceed 12 Mbit/s.
As of 3:30 p.m. Minsk time, Moscow leads by a wide margin over other regions in the number of reports of poor internet performance on the “Sboy.rf” website: 640 complaints in the last three hours, compared to 195 and 147 for St. Petersburg and the Rostov Region, which are in second and third place, respectively.
Earlier, Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media announced internet issues due to two events involving Putin. These were the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (October 27) and the “Russia–Africa” summit (October 28–29). The ministry explained that the implementation of “whitelists” was a security measure and advised Muscovites to use home internet or Wi-Fi networks.
Mobile internet outages in Moscow, as reported by The Moscow Times, have become a regular occurrence since May 2025, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the authorities’ attempts to take control of all telecommunications in the country. Based on the number of complaints about internet outages across all mobile carriers, the capital even made it onto the “Sboy.rf” anti-ranking by the end of last year. Communication problems hampered the operations of courier services, taxis, retail, and the rest of the consumer sector of the economy.
The outages became even more widespread in 2026. The largest was the March shutdown, which lasted between two and three weeks in various parts of Moscow and the Moscow Region. According to rough estimates, each day of those outages cost the economy one billion rubles. The press secretary for the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov explained the situation at the time by citing alleged security concerns.