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The Russian Ministry of Defense has already officially issued an order effectively banning its military from using the popular messenger Telegram. American analysts from the Institute for the Study of War believe that this will have truly negative consequences for the Russian army.
Main theses:
- The ban on the messenger is part of the Kremlin's campaign to censor the Internet.
- Official Moscow decided to ignore the risks and challenges for the Russian army.
Russia's military operations are again under question
The Russian invaders on the Ukrainian front had not yet had time to recover from the unexpected Starlink blockage when a new blow arrived — this time from the Kremlin.
Soon, Russian soldiers will finally lose access to Telegram, which will significantly complicate the conduct of their military operations.
American analysts believe that Putin's decision will exacerbate the already existing communication problems that arose in the Russian Armed Forces after the blocking of Starlink.
Moreover, it could significantly worsen the process of managing the army.
The ISW team draws attention to the fact that Telegram has already been blocked in the territory of the aggressor country.
According to the latest data, on March 14, 6,000 complaints from Russians about the messenger were recorded, and the next day this number doubled.
The Kremlin's main goal right now is to tighten censorship regarding the war against Ukraine.
This potentially reflects Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declining confidence in the stability of his regime. Putin is likely to continue these measures in the future as he faces increasingly difficult and unpopular compromises to sustain his war effort in Ukraine.
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