We are launching the “Shutdown Digest” section — this time, we sum up the month and analyze what happened in the Runet.
An internet shutdown is a complete or partial disconnection of internet access in a region or country. In this digest, for simplicity, we treat it as a synonym for the “whitelist” mode.
Even at the launch of Amnezia VPN, we faced a problem: how do you detect network access restrictions and inform users about them if the users themselves do not have access to the internet? And how can users, in turn, report problems? To solve this dilemma, we learned to collect anonymized data about connection status in Russia’s regions.
Our technical team noticed that internet restrictions have distinctive characteristics that can be tracked and recorded. By combining data streams from both our own and external sources, we developedAmnezia Pulse — a tool that detects outages and traffic slowdowns in real time.
This digest is the first in a series of reports on how the internet is blocked (in this particular case — in Russia) and which operators encounter difficulties most often. In addition to raw data, we provide our interpretation based on related news.
How We Collect Anonymized Data for These Reports
Before leaving the Runet, our users’ encrypted traffic passes through Amnezia VPN servers — that is the essence of a VPN service. On each such server there is a counter measuring incoming and outgoing traffic volume (RX/TXReceive/Transmit) and the number of active connections (peers).
We believe that privacy is one of the fundamental rights on the internet. Therefore, the collection of data for these reports, like our services, is built around the idea of anonymity. What this looks like in practice:
- The system determines the user’s region and internet provider based on the regional IP address within our server.
- Then the anonymized IP is automatically deleted.
- Only aggregated data ends up in the final sample. We see only the ISP’s name, the region, and the network type — for example, MTS, Samara, mobile network or Rostelecom, Yekaterinburg, Wi‑Fi. And, of course, the connection status.
We base our reports on the concept of Baseline, “normal behavior.” The system analyzes a 14-day history of readings and builds a graph of expected load for each region and telecom operator in 5-minute intervals. In practice, this means that we immediately notice anomalies if connection speed drops below the survival threshold (low limit) during peak hours.
We record an incident if a number of conditions are met:
- The drop lasts more than an hour.
- Traffic collapses across several telecom operators at once.
- The outage affects Premium and Free users simultaneously.
- Several regions are affected at the same time.
- Some external incident occurs in the region.
When several of the above factors coincide, we can say with a certain degree of confidence: yes, this is a shutdown or the “whitelist” mode.
The more connections — users of Amnezia Free or Premium — in a region, the more accurate the readings. Connect to our services so that the global data is more accurate!
What We Observed in April 2026 in The Context of Shutdowns in Russia
- In April, internet disruptions occurred daily.
- Most often, the restrictions were regional in nature, rarely at the level of federal districts.
- In general, mobile internet was being blocked; in April, we recorded almost no restrictions on Wi‑Fi.
N.B.: Some ISPs encountered problems noticeably more often than others.
- Sometimes the outages happened at night — to counter drone attacks, probably, — but their ultimate purpose is unclear in any case. We believe that at those hours the authorities were testing another set of blocking tools, but we do not rule out that it may also have been a coincidence.
- Traffic drops often coincided with external events that the authorities did not want to publicize.
Top 3 Problematic Regions in Russia in Terms of Internet Access in April 2026
Smolensk Oblast
April 17. We recorded a drop across all telecom operators and even Wi‑Fi networks.
The graph shows a drop in traffic volumes and in the duration of stable operation.
Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
April 18. We observed a long and pronounced traffic drop within Megafon.
Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
April 21. For the first time ever, we detected a serious drop in Wi‑Fi networks, namely among Rostelecom subscribers.
Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Perm Krai, and Drone-Related Restrictions
One of the most noticeable restrictions occurred in the Southern Urals on April 25. The traffic drop took place across two mobile operators at once — Megafon and T2. It should be noted that on that day the region was attacked by drones — in such cases, internet access is usually restricted.
Notice the rightmost depression — this is the internet drop already on April 29, when the drone threat mode was announced again in Chelyabinsk, and the usual suspects Megafon and T2 imposed restrictions.
On that same day, internet shutdowns — mainly on Megafon and once on MTS — were also recorded in a number of other regions where the same security mode was introduced: in Perm Krai, as well as in Sverdlovsk Oblast and Samara Oblast.
The introduction of this mode almost coincided in time with the anomalies we observed.
Megafon — The Record Holder for Connectivity Issues in April
In the operator’s networks, incidents occurred almost daily, and in different regions. We cannot confidently say what they were connected with.
Next after Megafon comes MTS. Its subscribers encountered traffic drops less often, but in one case this was interregional in nature. As part of the April 28 incident, the internet became unavailable in Altai Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai, as well as in Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, and Novosibirsk Oblasts.
Results and Expectations
On the dates preceding Victory Day — from May 5 to May 9 — access to mobile networks is already being promised to be curtailed in Moscow and Murmansk “in the interest of ensuring security measures.”
We will continue to monitor blocks and increase the accuracy of the data at the same time.
You can take part in our research — install the easy-going Amnezia Free or evaluate the benefits of the advanced Amnezia Premium to restore access to your favorite resources and make the next report even more detailed.
Follow our network status news on Twitter and stay connected with Amnezia VPN!
8 min
