🇷🇺 - Russia is creating and testing its own sovereign internet with VPNs unable to bypass.

Russia has recently taken a significant step in isolating parts of its country from the global internet, reportedly cutting off some regions for a day. The affected areas include Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia, which have majority-Muslim populations and are located in the southwest near Russia's borders with Georgia and Azerbaijan. During this shutdown, residents of these regions were unable to access popular foreign websites and apps like Google, YouTube, Telegram, and WhatsApp. Even the use of VPNs, which are commonly used to bypass censorship, failed for most users, as reported by local Russian media and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian government's communications authority, Roskomnadzor, carried out this blockade as part of its ongoing efforts to develop and test its own "sovereign internet." The goal is to establish an internet infrastructure that Russia can fully control and monitor, thus isolating its online environment from external influence. Digital rights group Roskomsvoboda confirmed that most VPN services were rendered ineffective during the outage. While some VPNs reportedly worked, it remains unclear which specific services were able to bypass the restrictions.

This move is part of Russia's broader initiative to create a national internet that can be tightly controlled and censored. Over the years, Russia has tested various methods to restrict access to foreign websites, including throttling speeds on platforms like YouTube, making them almost unusable. The country has also invested heavily in the infrastructure for this sovereign internet, with an estimated $648 million spent to date. These actions are seen as part of a long-term plan that has been in development since at least 2019.

🇸🇾 🇮🇷 🇮🇶 - "700,000 [mainly Shia] individuals from Iran and Iraq were granted Syrian citizenship under the Assad regime between 2011 and 2024. These citizenships will be revoked starting next Sunday." - Syrian government statement.

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And just like that, the USA and its allies have created 700,000 Shia Muslim refugees!

🇬🇧🇸🇾❗️ Keir Starmer expects Islamist group HTS to "reject terrorism and violence".

— AFP

Hahaha 👇

🇺🇸- Jury finds former Marine Daniel Penny NOT GUILTY in death of Jordan Neely

BREAKING: Joe Biden officially pardons his son Hunter Biden.

@GeneralMCNews

Is anyone surprised?

URGENT ⚡*⚠️ Ukrainian insiders have confirmed Kiev's preparations for another major invasion into Russia via Kharkiv into Belgorod - Pravda*

@BattlefieldInfo ⚔️🛡️