‘Total chaos’: The Kremlin knows Russians are angry about new Internet restrictions. It’s struggling to respond.

As mobile Internet blackouts spread from Russia’s regions to Moscow and the authorities continue throttling Telegram, the Kremlin’s own polling paints an uncomfortable picture: 83 percent of teenagers have reacted negatively to the shutdowns. Pro-government pollsters have avoided publishing equivalent data on adult Russians, not wanting to draw attention to the scale of the discontent. Meanwhile, the security services pushing for the blocks have faced virtually no resistance from the politicians who privately oppose them. Meduza spoke with sources inside the Kremlin, regional governments, and the Putin administration’s political team to find out why.