‘All I feel is anger and resentment’ Russia’s new messaging app call ban isolates elderly people, remote workers, and residents under drone threat
Last week, Russia’s federal censorship agency blocked video and audio calls on the country’s two most popular messaging apps, Telegram and WhatsApp, claiming the move was meant to combat fraud. Meduza asked our Russian readers to share how this new policy has already affected their lives. Responses poured in, full of frustration and despair: for many older people, these apps were the only reliable way to stay in touch with relatives elsewhere in Russia or abroad. For others, voice calls were an essential part of their work. Below are some of the responses we received, translated and lightly edited for length and clarity. For safety, we’ve omitted readers’ names but included the regions they wrote from.
Moscow, Russia
It’s awful! I now have no way to communicate with my children and grandchildren. Only one of my friends has an iPhone. We talk through FaceTime. Horrible. They’re trying to lock us up in a digital prison — and not just a digital one.
Spain
My dad was born in 1941, my mom in 1944. At almost 80 years old, they learned to use WhatsApp. My heroes. It’s very important to my mom to call every day and give a report, as she puts it. She goes over what happened during the day, what she cooked for lunch, and how dad is feeling. I share my news too, trying to joke and laugh more. My goal is to make them feel confident that I’m nearby. Video calls are very important. In the past few days, she can barely see me and hears me poorly because of the connection. I tell her that we’ll manage, we’ll figure something out.
I feel so sorry for them! Soon they’ll be gone themselves, but when those nasty, bony hands reach into their lives, it just hurts. Once my mom said, “Let them steal — just don’t bother us.” But they already have! Each one of us! Mom, don’t you care at all about what’s happening right now?
Tbilisi, Georgia
I now communicate with my father through the Chinese messenger WeChat — luckily we both spent a lot of time in China and found this alternative quickly. If a couple of years ago someone had told me that in the future I’d be using a Chinese social network to bypass call restrictions in Russia, I would have thought they were crazy. I feel like this is an additional punishment for me personally — and for all wartime migrants — for our political views.
Tatarstan, Russia
We rarely relied solely on voice calls, but the problems with video calls hit us hard. For my family, it’s a huge loss. Everywhere you turn, they talk about traditional values and protecting them — but at the same time, they take away any way to stay in touch with family scattered across the country. That’s how people end up isolated.
Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia
WhatsApp and Telegram are everything to me. From Turkey, where I worked for several years, I shipped equipment to Russia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and countries further east like Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam. Last week, I moved back to Russia to work remotely. And now I’m just in shock. I help my country, Russia, by supplying quality equipment from Turkey, a partner country. I contribute. But this WhatsApp calling ban, this is just shooting ourselves in the foot. A complete shitshow.
I now have to tell to clients from other countries that there are just “some issues with my internet” — because saying that WhatsApp calls are blocked in Russia is incredibly awkward. Thank you, Roskomnadzor, and the brilliant geniuses who came up with these idiotic laws.
Germany
Our 82-year-old grandmother was left on her own after my grandfather died two years ago. She mustered the nerve to learn how to make video calls on WhatsApp to keep in touch with her relatives and friends back in Russia They used to talk all the time — from “good morning” to “goodnight.” For several days now, she hasn’t been able to reach many of them. She’s worried, but she tries to calm herself, thinking maybe the network is just overloaded. It’s really sad how the authorities only worry about their own interests.
Voronezh, Russia
Now I have no way to find out how my parents are doing — whether they’re alive and safe after drone attacks.
Moscow
My mom lives in another city and is sick. The border is close to her, and every day there are drones and other threats. I want to see her as often as possible, but right now it’s not possible [at all]. Video calls on [Russian social media platform] VK are also impossible, because the Internet is constantly being jammed. What am I supposed to do? I don’t know. Should I install another messaging app? How can I be sure they won’t block that too? I think this ban is absurd. It’s the 21st century, when we have the technology to video-call our loved ones from afar, and yet we’re completely cut off.
Bulgaria
All I feel is anger and resentment — nothing new. It’s also hurt my relationships with acquaintances [in Russia] — they’ve switched to [domestic messaging app] Max and are now pushing it, since it’s the only messenger that works there. I don’t argue with them — they act like they’ve been completely brainwashed.
Belgorod region, Russia
My parents live in a remote village in the Belgorod region. There was never any mobile coverage there, and because it’s sparsely populated, no one planned to fix that. Installing the Internet was difficult, but my parents managed to do it. Video and voice calls via messenger apps were the only way to stay in touch during a very tough time in our region. [Editor’s note: The Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has been subject to regular drone attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.]
Now, in an emergency, they can call 112 [Russia’s emergency phone number], but they probably won’t be able to notify loved ones or send messages. On top of that, we used to call relatives in Ukraine every day. Meeting them in person now is extremely difficult. I feel endless frustration and anger. I don’t believe life will ever get back to normal.
Omsk, Russia
This is a fucking nightmare!!!! I work remotely and I have two friends who also work remotely, and for many years, we’ve all called each other on Telegram in conference mode during work. It really helps us not feel alone. Sometimes we just sit in silence or say something like, “I’m going to put the kettle on.” I think these calls have helped us keep our friendship alive. Now we’re trying to call via VK and looking for alternatives.
Germany
I no longer care what the reasons are. I just want them to stop this torture.
Krasnodar Krai, Russia
My father is partially paralyzed, so it’s very hard for him to hold a phone to his ear or use speakerphone. When he makes a normal call, he can barely hear, and cellular coverage in his area is very poor, almost nonexistent.
The only way he could stay in touch — not just with me or with other family members, but also with friends scattered across the country and the world — was through WhatsApp video calls. He literally spent whole days on the phone, keeping up with news about friends and me, which helped keep our spirits up. When I saw him a month ago, I even installed Telegram for him.
Now he seems cut off from the world. I’m the only person he can talk to (because I use a VPN), and even then, the connection is terrible, because he can’t do anything on his own. It’s really hard and sad.
I’m tired of feeling powerless. I’m tired of seeing new bans in the news every day. I’m tired of realizing how much my life and the lives of my loved ones have changed in such a short time. It hurts to see the people I care about dealing with these restrictions. It hurts not being able to connect with them in the way they know. What’s worse isn’t just the ban on video calls — it’s knowing it’s only one of many. That it won’t stop here. That things could get worse at any moment.
We usually do the talking at fundraisers. This time, we’ll let our readers speak for us. “I live in Russia and cannot send donations to Meduza, which is incredibly important to me as a source of reliable information. I have no friends abroad, and I ask you, a stranger to me, to support Meduza, and with it, hope for a normal future for Russia. This hope fades with each passing day. It’s unbearable to listen to propaganda and encounter people poisoned by it, especially children.” — Svetlana