Hello!

This is Svetlana Bronnikova — a journalist for the independent media outlet 7x7. Since February 2026, Roskomnadzor (Russia's federal censorship body) has been slowing down Telegram; the agency plans to fully block the messenger in Russia starting April 1. Russians have been living with systematic internet blocks and throttling for years. According to the "Na Svyazi" (On Connection) project, which tracks citizen complaints regarding internet issues, Roskomnadzor implemented partial shutdowns in several Russian regions every single day during the second half of 2025. These blocks regularly affected more than 40 regions across the country, peaking in the summer of 2025.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Economic impact of the blocks

Due to the internet outages, Russian businesses have entered a state of turbulence:

Retail: In Nizhny Novgorod, marketplace pick-up points were forced to close because an internet connection is required to process and issue orders.

Transportation: The taxi industry was hit particularly hard as aggregator apps ceased to function. Maria Generalova from Yekaterinburg told Forbes that her stepfather, a taxi driver, was unable to work for several days.

Financial Cost: According to the Internet Protection Society, a single day of mobile internet outages costs the state approximately 23.2 billion rubles.

Regional authorities justified the blocks as "security measures," claiming restrictions were necessary to prevent Ukrainian UAVs (drones) from using cell towers for navigation. However, the shutdowns also affected regions far from the Ukrainian border that were under no threat of drone attacks, such as the Khabarovsk Krai and the Sakhalin Region.

The planned protests: March 29

Russians are speaking out against the censorship and have planned protest actions for March 29, though authorities are doing everything in their power to ensure these rallies do not take place.

The Origins of the March 29 Rallies

The mass actions were announced on March 14 by Dmitry Kisiev, the former head of Boris Nadezhdin’s 2024 presidential campaign staff. (Nadezhdin was barred from running after the Central Election Commission claimed over 15% of his collected signatures were invalid, far exceeding the 5% limit).

Kisiev named the "Staff of Candidates" and allied politicians as co-organizers. They chose Sunday, March 29, for its symbolic value.

"This is a symbolic reference to Article 29 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of thought and speech, the right to seek and distribute information, and the prohibition of censorship," Kisiev explained.

Following the announcement, activists filed applications for public gatherings in 28 cities across 17 regions of the Russian Federation.

How authorities are blocking the rallies

While many activists sought to organize even before Kisiev’s announcement, they have faced a wall of refusals:

• Barnaul & Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Officials claimed that because Roskomnadzor blocks services "within its legal powers," the goal of the rally "violates the principle of legality."
• Moscow: Authorities cited COVID-19 restrictions.
• Volgograd: Cited drone attacks.
• Voronezh: Cited the threat of terrorist attacks.
• Vladivostok: Cited "repairs" at the only available public venue.
• Yakutsk: Banned the rally due to the supposed attention of "destructive individuals" who might use it for "illegal actions."

In some cases, authorities sabotaged already approved rallies. In Novosibirsk, they cited "tree inspections" in the park; in Irkutsk, an "excessive number of expected participants"; and in Perm and Khabarovsk, they claimed "utility accidents" at the sites.

The mere act of filing a permit has become dangerous:

• Rostov: Organizer Evgeny Makovoz was sentenced to 10 days in jail for "petty hooliganism" and "disobeying police." Reports indicate his home was searched and he was beaten.
• Volzhsky: 20-year-old Varvara (pseudonym) was visited at her workplace by security forces and forced to sign a "warning not to get involved in politics." Her rally was denied because the city allegedly lacks a designated "Hyde Park" (protest zone), despite plans to build one eleven years ago

The "Scarlet Swan" movement

On March 14, a new youth-led movement called "Scarlet Swan" (Alyy Lebed) emerged, also calling for rallies against internet blocking. Most participants are between 15 and 22 years old.

The movement has been met with skepticism from established activists and journalists for several reasons:

Anonymity: The organizers remained anonymous for a long time, only revealing a name after significant public pressure.

Inconsistency: Posts were frequently edited or deleted, and administrators gave contradictory statements regarding their contacts with public figures.

Suspicious Outreach: Members of the unregistered "Dawn" (Rassvet) party reported receiving messages from unknown individuals urging them not to oppose "Scarlet Swan."

Alleged Infiltration: Ruslan Shaveddinov (FBK) reported being asked to be a face of the project, which the movement later denied.

On March 23, the "Scarlet Swan" Telegram channel claimed their accounts had been hacked by Z-blogger Vladislav Pozdnyakov and "traitors from the old organizing committee." During the alleged hack, the accounts began soliciting 200,000 rubles in donations.

As of this publication, "Scarlet Swan" reported that none of their planned rallies were authorized by the authorities.

It remains unclear who is behind the movement. It is possible "Scarlet Swan" was orchestrated by Russian security forces as a "honey pot" to identify and prosecute concerned young people. Alternatively, it may simply be a genuine, if disorganized, group of youth tired of living behind a digital iron curtain.