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The operation of the Telegram messenger’s services has been slowed down in Russia due to violations of Russian legislation, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation said.
“Roskomnadzor has taken a decision to slow down Telegram’s services. The grounds are the messenger’s systematic and ongoing violation of the requirements of federal law,” Maksut Shadayev, head of the ministry, told TASS.
The ministry recalled that a messenger operating in Russia is required to store records of voice calls and the content of messages, ensure access for law enforcement agencies to information as part of their work on the basis of a court decision, and block content within 24 hours after receiving demands from Roskomnadzor. The messenger’s administration must carry out the blocking of unlawful content.
In addition, the ministry said that foreign services have access to correspondence on Telegram.
“We have direct confirmations from law enforcement agencies that, unfortunately, while at the beginning of the special military operation Telegram was considered a fairly anonymous service and was used by our military, there are now many facts confirmed by our agencies that foreign intelligence services have access to correspondence on Telegram,” Shadayev said.
It should be recalled that Russians began complaining about problems with Telegram’s operation on February 9. Roskomnadzor said it was introducing “sequential restrictions.” On Tuesday, media outlets reported information about a possible complete blocking of the messenger from April 1.