The Documentary Podcast Russia's 'nyet' to the internet
9 snips
May 7, 2026 
Evgeny Pudovkin, economic reporter on business fallout from Russia’s internet blocks. Gleb Borshchevski, military analyst on how restrictions affect battlefield comms. Daria Mosolova, Russia correspondent on social scope and policy drivers. They discuss mobile blackouts, VPN and platform bans, impacts on payments and propaganda, Telegram’s role for troops, and the push for a sovereign Runet.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Digitisation Created Fragile Daily Life
- Russia's digitisation increased state visibility while making daily life dependent on the internet.
- Daria Mosolova explains services from taxes to payments moved online, leaving society paralysed when mobile internet faltered.
Paper Maps Replaced Navigation Apps
- People resorted to paper maps and pagers when mobile internet failed in cities like Moscow.
- Daria Mosolova describes businesses unable to accept card payments and shoppers digging out old maps to navigate.
Drone Excuse Masked Mass Blocking
- Authorities justified shutdowns as counter-drone measures but expanded to blocking millions of domains and throttling major apps.
- Daria Mosolova notes about 3.5 million websites are blocked and VPN providers are targeted with fines.