Russia’s internet, or RuNet, experienced its second significant outage of the year, with users unable to access most websites and online services for approximately 30 minutes on January 14.

The disruption was attributed to a failed system update by the state telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor, but there has been speculation that the Kremlin is getting ready to be able to cut Russia’s internet off from the World Wide Web and run its own autonomous network as part of its “Internet sovereignty” policy.

Reports of the outage began circulating around 17:10 Moscow time, with network functionality restored by 17:40. During this window, major platforms including Russia’s largest operator, Rostelecom, government services portal Gosuslugi, and popular taxi-hailing apps were inaccessible. However, messaging platforms Telegram and WhatsApp, alongside social media network VK, were largely unaffected or only partially disrupted.

The incident is reminiscent of a similar shutdown earlier this month on January 6, although that had a small impact as it occurred during Russia’s New Year’s holidays. A much more serious incident happened in February last year during pre-election reconfigurations of Roskomnadzor’s traffic-blocking systems, which disabled almost all services, including the normally robust social media and messaging services, such as Telegram, YouTube, and VK for about an hour.

State interference in the internet has been growing. Last year YouTube slowed to a crawl as the state reportedly experimented with cutting off access to the popular video sharing site. YouTube’s download speeds were reduced again this January, but to a lesser extent.

Experts quickly identified Roskomnadzor as the cause of the problem on January 14. "If all providers in Russia simultaneously fail to load the same websites and services, the culprit can only be the traffic management systems installed by Roskomnadzor," a source within the Ministry of Digital Development, as reported by Ostorozhno Media and cited by The Bell.

These systems, known as TSPU (Technical Means for Counteracting Threats), have become mandatory for all Russian internet providers since 2019 under the “Sovereign Internet” law. Intended to centralise traffic management and enforce access restrictions on banned resources, TSPU has long been criticised for introducing inefficiencies and vulnerabilities, reports The Bell.

A former telecom operator employee described the system to The Bell: “It's essentially a ‘black box’ inserted into the network. Providers have no control over its functioning, and if it fails, there’s little recourse other than hoping for a swift fix.”

Roskomnadzor confirmed the outage but offered no detailed explanation, stating only that the issue was a "temporary loss of connectivity" that had been "promptly resolved."

"Before the Sovereign Internet law, there was no centralised kill switch for the internet in Russia," noted one commentator. "Now, these systems have made the entire network more susceptible to breakdowns and attacks."