Copyright AP Photo By Alexei Kavalerov
Such prospects have triggered the most serious wave of criticism from Kremlin supporters against the authorities in four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
‘Fake, nonsense’ and ‘unverified information’
Russia’s State Duma, which is fully aligned with the Kremlin, described the reports as “fake” and „rubbish”, also saying that the warnings are “premature”.
In 2015, one year after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine, Moscow introduced the Data Localisation Law, which requires all companies, including foreign ones, to store and process the personal data of Russian users on servers physically located within Russia.
After Moscow launched its all-out war on Ukraine in early 2022, the Kremlin toughened its regulations, and from 1 January 2026, all internet services are required to store user messages for three years and hand them over to security agencies on request.
The regulation applies to all messages, including audio, video, text and metadata, even if the users have deleted them.
He left Russia for Dubai in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform and hand over user data. But since then there have been signs of him possibly reconciling with the Kremlin.
A journalistic investigation revealed that Durov visited Russia over 50 times between 2015 and 2021.
Russian officials argue that imposing Max on citizens will not only provide users with a domestically made communication tool but also give them access to state services.
According to an investigation by journalist Andrei Zakharov, Max is a personal asset of the Russian president’s family.
A gut punch to their own?
The situation is also complicated by the fact that since the beginning of February, the Russian army has lost the ability to use Starlink satellite internet terminals, which immediately caused a breakdown in the communications system.
The Russian military channels claim that _“_The primary problem is the loss of interaction between units: the established communication channels will collapse”.
At the same time, he expressed hope that _”_in some time our military will be able to reorganise and switch to Russian services”.
His comments came one day after the State Duma approved amendments obliging mobile operators to disconnect communications at the FSB’s request, freeing them in such cases from liability to subscribers and users.
According to March 2025 data from the Levada Centre, a non-governmental sociological group, 36% of Russians regularly or occasionally use VPNs, up from 25% a year earlier.
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Vezi articolul la: Euronews