Kremlin: Microsoft and Google help Russian authorities block Telegram
Interfax reports that Aleksandr Zharov, the head of Roskomnadzor (The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media), has announced that Microsoft and Google will stop providing the messaging service Telegram with opportunities to bypass Russia’s blocking service.
"Microsoft has stopped providing Telegram with the opportunity to use the Microsoft Download configuration file service; [additionally] Google has informed us that, at present, it has suspended the provision of IP addresses to Telegram," Zharov said.
At the same time, he noted that a corresponding dialogue is still continuing with Amazon.
"With Amazon, everything is not going as fast, and it's difficult for me to talk about concrete results. We are in a dialogue, but we are patient people," the head of Roskomnadzor said.
According to Zharov, the Department plans to introduce new technical solutions to more effectively block Telegram.
"We do not intend to block any more subnets; we are working point-by-point, with specific IP addresses. Therefore, we do not currently need to say that we harm some good resources,” he said.
Russia’s ban on the Telegram messaging service began on April 16th after a corresponding decision by the Tagansky district court in Moscow.
Amazon previously refused to help in the blocking of Telegram.