Mobile internet outages in Russia will last as long as "necessary" to ensure citizens' safety, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after network disruptions were recorded in Moscow and other Russian cities.
"As long as additional measures are necessary to ensure the safety of our citizens," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked at a daily briefing about how long the outages will last.
He also accused Ukraine of using "increasingly sophisticated attack methods" and said that "more technologically advanced countermeasures are needed" to repel them.
Russian security services have frequently claimed that Ukraine was using the Telegram messaging app to recruit people or commit acts of sabotage in Russia.
An AFP reporter experienced mobile internet disruptions in Russia's western regions of Oryol and Tula, several hundred kilometres south of the capital Moscow.
In the past months Russia has imposed curbs on both Telegram and WhatsApp, owned by US social media giant Meta, citing the need to combat criminal activity, and has been pushing state-backed Russian rival Max instead.
Critics and rights campaigners say the restrictions are a transparent attempt by the Kremlin to ramp up control and surveillance over internet use in Russia.
They also say it will make it harder for Russians to communicate with people outside the country.
