The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has said that Russia’s attempts to block Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) caused a major technical problem with a domestic payment system.
The disruption took place on Friday and affected payments in several places across the country. In Moscow, metro stations reportedly allowed passengers to enter without paying because ticket systems were not working.
Some businesses were also affected. A regional zoo asked visitors to pay with cash after electronic payments stopped working.
Durov said the problem happened during efforts by Russian authorities to block VPN services and control internet traffic. He claimed that millions of people in the country were now trying to bypass these restrictions.
“Welcome back to the digital resistance,” Durov wrote in a message on Telegram. He said many Russians were attempting to avoid online controls introduced by the government.
Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, confirmed there had been a technical issue but did not give details about the cause. Russian officials have not publicly linked the outage to VPN restrictions.
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The government says tighter control of messaging apps and VPN services is needed for national security. Officials argue that platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram could be used by foreign intelligence agencies.
Durov and Telegram have denied those claims. The company says authorities are trying to push people toward a state-backed messaging platform called MAX, which schools and universities in Russia have been encouraged to use.
