MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Let's go to Russia now, where the government has introduced a web of repressive laws targeting online dissent against its war against Ukraine. Those expanding restrictions are now frustrating daily life for millions and sending President Vladimir Putin's approval ratings on a rare downward spiral. Joining us to talk about this is NPR's Charles Maynes, who's on the line from Moscow. Good morning, Charles.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: OK. So let's acknowledge the obvious. Our connection seems to be working.
MAYNES: (Laughter) Let's hope.
MARTIN: Should we be surprised?
MAYNES: You know, not exactly. I mean, the internet in Russia still works. It just doesn't work as well as it used to.
MARTIN: So what's been happening?
MAYNES: Well, you know, the idea of the government wanting more control over the internet is not new here, but those efforts have intensified amid the war in Ukraine. And the state has gotten much, much better at policing the digital space. I mean, they've effectively blocked independent news websites and social media platforms like Facebook. They made encrypted calls on popular messaging services like WhatsApp so choppy they're indecipherable. And that's really nothing compared to what we've seen recently, which is full blackouts on mobile internet services, sometimes for days on end, and the criminalization of virtual private networks. These are VPNs that provide the only work-around for Russians to access content not sanctioned by the state.
MARTIN: And what's the state's justification for all this?
MAYNES: Well, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked this recently.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DMITRY PESKOV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: So here, Peskov says these measures are dictated by real security concerns, adding that once those concerns are resolved, the restrictions will be lifted. Now, in terms of threats, the government points to Ukrainian drones that rely on mobile internet service to strike targets inside Russia or, say, terrorists and scammers who use encrypted messaging apps to operate. You know, and there's some truth to that. But meanwhile, the state is pushing Russians to use a government-run platform called MAX, which security analysts say is vulnerable to Russian state surveillance. So there's just this feeling of a digital cage that's getting smaller all the time.
MARTIN: What are Russians saying about all this?
MAYNES: Well, they don't like it. You know, Russians - you know, they're used to 21st century digital services, and now those are deeply unreliable. Bank and rider apps, for example, don't always work. E-government services are glitchy. You can't connect or message your friends. You know, and these restrictions are done supposedly because of the war in Ukraine, but they have implications for the war in Ukraine. So for example, take the state's recent throttling of the hugely popular news messaging app Telegram. One of the complaints people say is that in the border regions of Russia, no one has a way of receiving real-time information about Ukrainian drone attacks. So there's this broad coalition from both pro-Kremlin and opposition circles who say these internet restrictions are just a bad idea.
MARTIN: Has President Putin said anything about this?
MAYNES: You know, Putin is famously analog. You know, he doesn't use a smartphone. He gets his briefings on paper. And he hasn't addressed these restrictions, but he has suggested that he looks at Western tech as infiltrated by Western spy agencies. So there's this general sense that Putin is not too keyed in on the details of how these internet restrictions really affect people's lives.
The problem is Putin's approval ratings are down because of it, and that's even according to state-operated polls. So at a moment when the war in Ukraine is in its fifth year, there's some fatigue with the public, the economy is struggling, you know, the concern for the Kremlin is that this crackdown on the internet becomes a lightning rod for wider discontent that's already there below the surface.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Charles Maynes in Moscow. Amazing - our connection held up.
MAYNES: (Laughter) Thank you, Michel.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAS HERMANAS CARONNI'S "ANTIGONA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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