Russia: thwarting a bomb plot against “Roskomnadzor” and arresting 7 accused
The Russian Federal Security Service indicated the arrest of seven people, supporters of the extreme right and neo-Nazis, which it said were recruited via the Telegram application by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, during raids carried out last week. He added that the leader of the group, a young man from Moscow born in 2004, tried to resist arrest using a firearm, before he was neutralized by the security forces. These developments come in light of the increasing role of the “Roskomnadzor” authority in Internet censorship, as the authorities granted it broad powers, including slowing down the services of major applications such as “Telegram” and WhatsApp, with the aim of pushing users towards using a local state-supported platform known as “Max.” The authorities also imposed restrictions on the use of virtual private networks (VPN), in addition to implementing frequent internet outages that included the capital, Moscow, major cities, and areas close to the Ukrainian border. The government justified these measures as necessary for security reasons, especially in the face of Ukrainian drone attacks. While it stressed that the restrictions imposed on messaging applications come within efforts to combat criminal activities linked to foreign parties.
Declared Seven people were arrested Combat criminal activities
