Moscow businesses struggle as Russia restricts cellphone internet services

MOSCOW (AP) — Many foreign websites were blocked Friday on mobile phones in central Moscow under restrictions that have gripped the Russian capital for more than a week, derailing the routine of millions of residents and slamming businesses that rely on cellphone internet.

Russian authorities have said the restrictions are part of security measures to fend off Ukrainian drone attacks, but many industry experts suspect they are part of preparations by the authorities to block Russians' access to the global web if the Kremlin decides to do so.

The intermittent shutdowns, which had previously been recorded in dozens of Russia’s regions for months, have prompted some Moscow residents to turn to long-forgotten gadgets like walkie talkies, pagers and media players.

The shutdowns are part of multipronged efforts by the authorities to rein in the internet. They have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that don’t comply. Technology also has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the government has blocked major social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Last year, Russia’s communications watchdog announced it was restricting popular messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram.

At the same time, authorities have actively promoted a “national” messenger app called MAX, which critics see as a surveillance tool.

The mobile internet shutdowns in Moscow, which were first reported on March 5 on some of the capital's outskirts, swept through the downtown area earlier this week. Many other regions have been hit with connectivity blackouts since May.

During the outages, a number of government-approved Russian websites and online services have been designated as being on “white lists” and have been available. But during this week's cellphone internet disruptions in Moscow, even white-listed government services, top banks and taxi apps stopped functioning.

Businesses with broadband access, and residents with broadband at home, have not been affected.

However, owners of Moscow cafes, restaurants and shops that rely on mobile internet have suffered massive losses as customers have been unable to pay for the services. The ATMs and parking meters that rely on cellphone internet stopped working.

Taxi apps have offered clients the option of calling a taxi by phone and paying cash.

During some moments, not only cellphone internet but cellphone coverage for making calls was halted completely.

Earlier this week, members of the Kremlin-controlled parliament reported that mobile internet was almost entirely missing in the lower house building located just a few hundred meters (yards) from Red Square.

On Friday, Russian websites and some mobile apps were available in central Moscow, but foreign websites were blocked in what some observers saw as part of dress rehearsals for cutting off access to the Web.

The business daily Kommersant published an estimate earlier in the week that Moscow businesses lost between 3 and 5 billion of rubles (about $38 million to $63 million) in five days of shutdowns. Other estimates ran significantly higher.

Media reports said that as shutdowns gripped Moscow, retailers recorded a quick surge in demands for pagers, portable radios, stationary phones and media players.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that latest cellphone internet shutdown in Moscow was in “strict conformity with the law” and would last “as long as additional measures to ensure security of our citizens are necessary.”

Recently approved legislation has obliged Russian internet providers to shut down mobile internet when the authorities declare it necessary for security reasons.

Asked why the shutdowns in Moscow were taking place now, Peskov responded that as Ukraine launches “increasingly sophisticated methods of attack, the more technologically advanced measures are needed to ensure public security.”

He said that the government will look at ways to compensate businesses for the losses resulting from the shutdowns, but offered no specifics.

The sun is seen behind a Red Star atop of a Kremlin Tower during sunset in Moscow, Thursday, March 12, 2026, backdropped by a Stalin's style skyscraper. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

A man looks at his smartphone as a woman reads a book while on the subway in Moscow Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The sun is seen behind a Red Star atop of a Kremlin Tower during sunset in Moscow, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

People enter an underpass during sunset in Moscow, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

People watch and take photos during sunset in Moscow, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — In the southern Gaza Strip, where Israeli airstrikes are still a regular occurrence despite a ceasefire, residents of the city of Khan Younis were following the results of Israel’s election closely, hoping that anyone but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will form the next government.

“All of their policies towards Gaza are tough, but we choose the lesser of two evils,” resident Ayman Ahmed said.

Ahmed said that he hoped Netanyahu’s main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, would prevail, noting that he supports U.S. President Donald Trump's road map for Gaza.

The plan calls for disarming the Hamas militant group and installing a new U.S.-backed government. But it also requires Israel to withdraw forces and allow reconstruction to begin.

Most of Gaza’s 2 million people remain displaced, living in the bombed-out ruins of their former homes or in squalid tent camps.

Netanyahu agreed to the Trump plan, but never carried it out beyond the initial stage of a partial withdrawal and increased aid in exchange for the return of the final hostages, alive and dead, held by Hamas. The plan has been largely frozen for nearly a year.

In the rubble-strewn streets near the city’s Nasser Hospital, Mohammed Abed said that a Netanyahu win would be seen as a victory for his agenda, but that he didn’t expect major changes no matter who is in power.

Eisenkot is a former military chief who favors tough responses against Israel’s enemies.

“An Eisenkot victory will not dramatically change the situation, because their policies are almost similar,” Abed said. “In the end, it will be the same.”

Underscoring Abed's pessimism, two strikes in Khan Younis on Wednesday killed one man and wounded at least six other people, according to health officials at Nasser Hospital. Israel’s military didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 1,550 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began in October 2025, according to the territory’s health ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, doesn't distinguish between civilians and militants, though it says women and children make up roughly half of the dead.

Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed much of Gaza.

Hasan al-Masri, who was displaced from his home in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, said that he desperately hoped the election would bring change to Gaza.

“We pray to God that these elections bring a positive outcome for us,” he said. "We have been utterly devastated; nothing remains. They have killed our children, destroyed our homes, and everything we had is gone.”

The future of Gaza was barely an issue in the Israeli election campaign, and the only major candidate to talk in favor of the two-state solution was Yair Golan, the head of the small Democrats party.

Asked whether the possibility of a future Palestinian state was something that people in Gaza were hoping for, Ahmed said “only people outside Gaza care about these topics” and that their main concern was finding enough food to eat.

He said that he feared a Netanyahu win would bring more war, however, and more suffering.

“We support any effort to bring down Netanyahu,” he said.

Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo, and David Rising in Bangkok, contributed to this report.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to his supporters at Likud party headquarters in Jerusalem after the release of the first exit poll results in Israel's general election, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)