Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has plummeted the country into a catastrophic connectivity crisis. The severity of the situation is easily visible, when realising that the connectivity crisis affects quite literally – everyone in the country. The sanctions placed on Russia, paired with the increased censorship placed by the government cut off the connection with the outside world in a major way.
“It’s visible everywhere really… I can’t go on Instagram or Facebook to chat with my friends, I can’t use Apple Pay or any foreign bank accounts, I can’t afford to leave the country for a holiday, and I can’t do any of my university work without paying for a VPN on my computer.” – Mikhail Vasiliev, online student at Webster University, completing his studies from Russia.
Multiple university and school students have experienced difficulties with completing their studies, as a majority of research articles and online libraries are unavailable for access within Russia. While there are ways to bypass the paid VPN servers on one’s phone by simply waiting out the ads and using the app for free, all computer VPNs require payment straight away. While it may seem like an easily resolvable problem, it is known that there is no point in paying for any VPN servers, as they are not cheap, and one can never know when it will stop working, as all VPNs are being blocked one by one.
Newly released law regarding VPN with a list of blocked servers / @ denis-19
While some social media platforms can be accessed through some still-functioning VPN servers, others do not work even with a working VPN connection. For example Instagram can load new messages even without a connection, but only opens with a turned-on VPN. Same goes for Facebook and Twitter. However the new generation’s favourite TikTok does not function even with a successful VPN connection.
The limitation of online entertainment is not limited to the restriction of social media. Countless websites and apps are no longer able to open on Russian territory due to containing materials that contradict the newly enforced severe censorship laws. That goes as much for entertainment websites, as much as for foreign media. Due to the sanctions, newly released films and shows are not played in Russian cinemas or streaming platforms, however if a film is somehow leaked onto a Russian platform or shown in the movie theatre under a different name as to not “technically” breach copyright laws, any scenes that contain advertisement of harmful habits such as smoking, any negative references to the Russian government, and any LGBTQ+ propaganda, as since the start of the war, it has all been made illegal, much like in the times of the Soviet Union.
The Little Mermaid presented in cinemas as “Girl with a Snail” by Elisaveta Semasheva.
Living abroad and having family in Russia also became difficult since 2022, from simply coming to see your relatives, to trying to send them a little something from abroad. Most airlines have stopped trips to Russia due to the sanctions, only leaving Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Air Serbia, Ethiopian Airlines and Air China. Sending a parcel or a letter to Russia also became close to impossible, as for a while only business organisations were able to mail things into the country, and personal mail was not allowed.
To touch upon the financial and economic spheres that have also been dragged into the connectivity crisis, the sanctions imposed on Russia by Western nations have severely complicated financial transactions. It quickly became impossible to pay for non-Russian services using Russian payment systems, therefore halting operations between Russian and foreign banks. Consecutively, all kinds of finance-involved operations with foreign nations have been blocked, which touched the more simple things such as Apple Music subscriptions, to more serious matters such as completing business deals and transferring or donating money into foreign accounts or vice versa.