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Tymofiy Mylovanov

@Mylovanov

Mar 15 • 12 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X

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Russia is building a digital fortress — North Korea-scale, but nuclear-armed and 15 times larger.

The Kremlin banned Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. Now Telegram is next.

The replacement: MAX, a state-surveillance messenger modeled on China’s WeChat —Politico. 1/

On Feb. 4, SpaceX tightened Starlink authentication. Russian satellite internet traffic in Ukraine dropped 75%.

Battlefield coordination collapsed. Russia started laying fiber-optic cables to the front. 2/

Days later, Roskomnadzor began slowing Telegram across Russia.

April plan: block it entirely.

Anton, a Russian drone repair officer: “All military work goes through Telegram. That would be like shooting the entire Russian army in the head.” 3/

Pro-war volunteer networks use Telegram to fundraise for vehicles, fuel, armor, and evacuation equipment.

Ivan Philippov, who tracks Russian military bloggers: “If you break Telegram inside Russia, you break fundraising.” 4/

Already blocked or restricted: WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, FaceTime, Snapchat, X, Signal, Discord, Viber.

On March 3 a new law took effect allowing the FSB to order telecom operators to cut cellular and fixed internet. 5/

The Kremlin’s replacement is MAX — launched March 2025, built by VK, integrated with state services and subject to Russian data-retention laws.

Schools and employers are steering users toward it. Elena: “It works badly. Messages are delayed. Notifications don’t come.” 6/

Russia’s censorship system is not China’s Great Firewall. It operates internally — deep packet inspection equipment installed inside every provider, slowing traffic without formally banning it.
7/

Mikhail Klimarev, internet Protection Society: “It’s not one wall. It’s thousands of fences. You climb one, then there’s another.”

In September Russia banned VPN advertising. In February the first case was opened against a media outlet for promoting a VPN service. 8/

Even Kremlin allies are alarmed. Sergei Mironov, leader of Just Russia party, called the regulators behind the Telegram slowdown “idiots” on February 11 — warning the restrictions could cost soldiers’ lives. Pro-war bloggers call the blocking “sabotage of the war effort.” 9/

Alexander Gabuev, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center: digital isolation could turn Russia into a large, nuclear-armed North Korea and a junior partner to China.

A complete internet shutdown is possible. But if they do that, the internet won’t be the main problem anymore. 10X

Source: [politico.com/news/2026/03/1…](politico.com/news/2026/03/1…)

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More from @Mylovanov

Tymofiy Mylovanov

@Mylovanov

Mar 17

Nixon, 1983: Russians can be trusted only if we make agreements which are in their interest to keep, self-enforcing agreements.

Only if everything we do with them is linked to something that will cost them if they break the agreement. 1/

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Mar 17

Zelenskyy: War has no distance anymore. Drones already fly 3,000–5,000 km, soon up to 10,000.

Ukraine faces 350–500 drone attacks daily. No country could withstand that. There are no safe continents — distance is now a matter of months, not decades.

1/

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Drones are just carriers and in the hands of nuclear states like Russia, that makes them especially dangerous.

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

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Mar 17

WSJ: Iran blocked Hormuz to force Trump to end the war early. Trump has two choices — back down or escalate. He is signaling escalation.

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

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Mar 16

Snyder: Putin’s version of history is not really about the past.

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Tymofiy Mylovanov

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Mar 16

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