{"id":304223,"date":"2025-07-30T15:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/304223\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T15:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:24:13","slug":"russians-should-get-ready-for-more-internet-blackouts-and-switch-to-cash-lawmaker-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/304223\/","title":{"rendered":"Russians Should Get Ready for More Internet Blackouts and Switch to Cash, Lawmaker Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A senior Russian lawmaker is urging citizens to adjust to the growing likelihood of widespread internet disruptions by relying more on cash and preparing for reduced access to digital services.<\/p>\n<p>Vladimir Gutenev, head of the State Duma\u2019s Industry and Trade Committee, <a href=\"https:\/\/life.ru\/p\/1774787\" title=\"told\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a> the pro-Kremlin news outlet Life that Russians should be ready for \u201cregular and necessary\u201d internet shutdowns and recommended withdrawing cash in advance to avoid being caught off guard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRestricting or shutting down the internet is a necessary measure,\u201d Gutenev said. \u201cThere are critical infrastructure facilities whose failure could have serious consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He acknowledged the country\u2019s reliance on digital payment systems but emphasized the need to prioritize national security over convenience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re used to paying with cards or smartphones and having constant connectivity. But now it\u2019s important to accept temporary restrictions as a necessity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t turn into a hipster who only lives in the center of Moscow,\u201d he added. \u201cLife is not limited to comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His comments follow a sharp rise in internet outages across Russia due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>Russian authorities say the temporary mobile internet shutdowns help prevent drones from receiving targeting coordinates via civilian networks.<\/p>\n<p>According to the independent communications watchdog Na Svyazi, disruptions were reported in 77 regions by mid-July, including remote areas far from the front lines like the Primorye, Sakhalin and Kamchatka regions.<\/p>\n<p>Mobile internet was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moscowtimes.ru\/2025\/07\/29\/rossiiskie-regioni-ohvatila-novaya-volna-internet-shatdaunov-a170188\" title=\"shut down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shut down<\/a> in 62 regions simultaneously on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>While officials frame the outages as security measures, they have caused growing frustration among residents and business owners who depend on mobile networks for payment processing, communication and navigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A senior Russian lawmaker is urging citizens to adjust to the growing likelihood of widespread internet disruptions by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3161],"tags":[3082,84158,53,6915,16,753,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-304223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-state-duma","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-telecommunications","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-ukraine-war","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}