Why is Russia shutting off the internet?
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 663 Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In recent months, the Russian government has been restricting access to messaging apps such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, and at points, even shutting down internet access completely.
Russian officials insist that curbs on communication are in the interests of public safety. They claim that mobile internet blackouts disorient Ukrainian attack drones, although such attacks have continued even in areas where the internet has been switched off.
How have these blackouts been affecting peoples’ ability to access news, communicate, even find their way around? And how are people reacting to the restrictions on their freedoms?
BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg joins Asma to discuss.
Producers: Chris Benderev and Hannah Moore
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Passengers use mobile phones aboard a themed metro train honouring the Russian National Guard in Moscow, Russia, March 31, 2026. Credit: Reuters/Ramil Sitdikov
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's been well reported that Vladimir Putin's government has been cracking down on dissent and public protests for years. |
| 0:13.3 | But recently, Russians began noticing something different. |
| 0:19.2 | Something that fundamentally changed their connection to the outside world and each other. |
| 0:25.0 | This past March, the Kremlin instituted sweeping new restrictions on Russia's internet, |
| 0:29.8 | blocking its most popular social media app. And for three weeks, there was an internet blackout |
| 0:35.5 | in huge swaths of the country, meaning people could not |
| 0:39.9 | use their cell phones for the things we've grown so accustomed to using our phones for. |
| 0:45.0 | The BBC's veteran journalist in Russia, who's covered the country for 30 years, says |
| 0:49.9 | these latest internet restrictions are like nothing he's ever seen. |
| 0:54.3 | From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. |
| 0:58.2 | And today on the global story, why is Vladimir Putin choking off Russia's internet? |
| 1:04.1 | And is he creating a sort of digital iron curtain? |
| 1:13.3 | Okay, so here at the BBC, when you have a question about Russia, you call up Steve, |
| 1:19.0 | meaning the BBC's Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. |
| 1:21.9 | He's reported from that country for a long, long time. |
| 1:25.2 | And he started our conversation by explaining how the Russian government's limits on |
| 1:29.8 | information got to this point. |
| 1:32.3 | Let me give you some context here. |
| 1:34.3 | I mean, this story goes back, I would say, a quarter of a century. |
| 1:38.9 | It comes to when Vladimir Putin came into power in the year 2000. |
| 1:43.7 | And it was clear that Russia suddenly had a leader who was |
| 1:49.5 | quite keen to control the flow of information. And in the early years of Vladimir Putin, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.