Kiseev, 31, said local activists had submitted applications to hold rallies in 17 regions across Russia. All of them were rejected, he said, including some who were initially allowed to proceed. Despite this, the OVD-Info protest monitoring group said on Tuesday that at least 25 people were arrested across Russia for protesting the digital restrictions on Sunday, 18 of them in Moscow. The group also reported the detention of people who tried to register to protest before Sunday.
Kisiev said the protests could show people who don’t agree with the restrictions “that there are other like-minded individuals out there.”
NBC News contacted more than a dozen Russians to ask what they thought about the call for protests. Most did not respond, while some declined to speak without giving any reason.
Earlier this year, some Russians said they feared the Kremlin was preparing the public for a “North Korea” model of the Internet, which is heavily controlled and censored by the state. “I don’t think the Russian public will accept it,” Kiseev said, noting how central the Internet has become in the lives of millions of people in the country.
Russian officials have said that shutting down mobile internet is necessary to prevent Ukrainian drone attacks and that Telegram is becoming a breeding ground for terrorism.
While these justifications are “absurd”, Kisiev said, the real motivation seems clear. “The government is deliberately crippling the Internet so that users do not use foreign resources and seek alternative information,” he said.
‘Bring back the internet’
Russian officials have advocated the merits of life without the Internet, arguing that it is an opportunity for “digital detox” and more face-to-face interaction.
Forcustomers
A popular game show that aired on a Russian state TV channel as demand for the protests grew earlier this month It features a children’s choir, whose members are enthusiastically dancing and singing that they don’t need the internet. “The blue screen of the monitor won’t ruin my dinner,” he shouted.
But despite the Kremlin’s effort, there is huge appetite among the public to vent frustrations about escalating sanctions, said politician Boris Nadezhdin, who tried to run for president against Putin in 2024 and whose campaign was overseen by Kiseev.
Nadezhdin said in a phone interview that he supported the protests and had personally applied with authorities in the capital and the wider Moscow region for permission for gatherings of up to 10,000 people. He said all his requests were rejected citing Covid concerns.
“The slogans are clear,” he said, referring to the so-called national messenger that the Kremlin is increasingly imposing on Russians. “Bring back the Internet, bring back Telegram, we don’t need your Max.” Critics say the app can be used for mass surveillance.
Taxi driver Alexey Popov applied to protest against Internet censorship in his Siberian city of Yakutsk. Popov, 27, told NBC News it was originally approved for Monday, but permission was later withdrawn. The denial letter from municipal officials, seen by NBC News, said Popov could not hold the rally on either date due to “considerable attention” to the event from “destructive individuals.”
