Russian media censorship: The truth is coming out

Associate Professor Wendy Sloane on how cracks in Russia’s disinformation strategy are deepening as the war in Ukraine continues for the fifth year

Date: 01 June 2026

Russia is introducing increasingly draconian laws, tightening censorship and expanding punitive measures to suppress dissent and control information, Dr Wendy Sloane writes in the latest issue of the British Journalism Review. Yet in a rare display of open public criticism, previously compliant bloggers, celebrities and even pro-Putin politicians have condemned the crackdown, further damaging the Kremlin’s image at home and abroad.

The latest restrictions - including rolling internet blackouts, blocking WhatsApp and threatening to ban Telegram - have disrupted the lives of millions of Russians, harmed economic activity and exposed weaknesses in the state’s censorship apparatus. 

As in Iran after Telegram was banned, the Kremlin's measures may prove to be counterproductive. VPN use has surged, while the state's surveillance capabilities - particularly those of the Federal Security Service (FSB), continue to expand, intensifying the struggle between government control and public resistance.

Reasserting control

The crackdown extends beyond the digital sphere. A wave of new legislation is reshaping Russia’s information environment, from requiring public signage to be in Russian to expanding state powers to enforce so-called “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values” in media and film.

At the same time, resistance is adapting - and many say growing. Telegram founder Pavel Durov says more than 65 million Russians access the app daily, many using VPNs to evade restrictions. He has pledged that Telegram will continue developing new tools to evade blocks.

Putin’s increasingly restrictive approach raises a wider question: does it project strength, or growing anxiety about the Kremlin’s ability to control information, technology and public opinion?

Kitty litter and cameras

Russians are finding increasingly inventive ways around restrictions. Meduza, the Latvia-based independent Russia media organisation, reported that one woman in Bali communicates with her parents in Russia through a camera attached to an automatic pet feeder after other methods failed. “When they block the feeder, switch to a litter box with a camera,” a reader joked.

Others use chess apps, Duolingo chat functions and even banking apps, hiding messages in payment details to stay in contact with relatives abroad.

Maintaining political control at home remains a central priority. Over the past year, Putin has jailed prominent dissenters and announced plans to restrict foreign AI chatbots while developing a domestic alternative rooted in “Russian culture, worldview and values”.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Kremlin’s efforts resemble the foundations of a “Soviet-style police state” designed to tighten control over the Russian internet ahead of any future confrontation with NATO.

What happens next remains uncertain. September’s State Duma elections may influence Putin’s calculations as he seeks another decisive victory for United Russia. Yet any further mobilisation would likely prove deeply unpopular, encouraging the Kremlin to rely instead on quieter recruitment efforts through businesses and regional authorities rather than a nationwide draft.

Taken together, the tightening restrictions suggest a government increasingly preoccupied with maintaining control at home as well as projecting power abroad. The more the Kremlin expands censorship, surveillance and information controls, the more it risks revealing the very insecurities those measures are designed to conceal.

Whether Russia ultimately confronts NATO more directly remains an open question. What is clearer is that the Kremlin’s struggle to control information has become a defining feature of Putin’s rule - and perhaps one of its greatest vulnerabilities. Read the full article.