Users from different parts of the Russian Federation, especially from the Urals and Siberia, have experienced significant problems with access to popular online resources. Experts attribute this to Roskomnadzor’s attempts to restrict access to the American service Cloudflare.
• TikTok, Steam, Duolingo, Twitch, Epic Games, messengers, online banking systems (Sberbank, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank), as well as the Russian state portal, were hit.
• Roskomnadzor justifies the problems with “external infrastructure”, although the technical community directly accuses Cloudflare of blocking, a CDN provider that guarantees speed, security and protection against DDoS attacks.
• Experts from Roskomsvoboda interpret this as a “test” launch of the blocking to study the reaction and force businesses to migrate to Russian hosting providers.
Back in November 2024, Roskomnadzor took up the blocking of Cloudflare, justifying it by the possibility of circumventing censorship. In February 2025, the service was added to the “surveillance register” – a list of organizations obliged to transfer data to the FSB. Cloudflare, like Google, refused to cooperate with Russian structures, which caused technical difficulties.
Blocking Cloudflare is an element of the Kremlin’s strategy of digital isolation. It limits businesses in protecting themselves from cyber threats and forces them to choose between security and accessibility. Increasing the number of blocks could turn Runet into a kind of Chinese “great digital wall”.
171 
156 
162 