Why is Telegram not working in Russia?

Telegram's refusal to provide Russian intelligence services with users' encrypted messages has led the Kremlin to block 19 million IPs

Telegram, one of the most popular and appreciated instant messaging apps worldwide, is on a collision course with the Russian government. A problem for Soviet users that risks to expand to other services.

For those who don't know it, Telegram is the instant messaging app created by Pavel Durov, Russian computer scientist and creator of vKontakte (the most popular social network in Russia and neighboring countries). Always considered one of the safest messaging apps to use, Telegram offers its users features and tools that will often be taken over by its direct competitors. Think, for example the chatbots, the&nbsp "automatic responders" which, powered by artificial intelligence, allow users to obtain information in an automated manner. The less than idyllic history between Durov and the Moscow government, however, has always jeopardized the survival of the service, so much so that it has now come to a full-blown confrontation.

Russia-Telegram: tug-of-war over privacy

The latest problems between the Russian government and Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, arose in early April 2018, when the latter refused to provide the Federal Security Service with the cryptographic keys that would allow Russian authorities to access the encrypted messages exchanged by users on the platform. And to say that Durov in his homeland is a real star, having also created the most used social in Russia: VKontakte. The CEO of Telegram, however, was clear,  on the privacy of users can not compromise. A decision that has created major friction with the Kremlin so much so that Russia has decided on the drastic solution: blocking the IP addresses of the servers used by Telegram, so as to make it unusable for Russian citizens.

Runaway and blocked IPs

To get around the block decreed by Russian authorities, Telegram tried to gain access to new IPs, so much so that Durov even offered a hefty reward in Bitcoin to anyone willing to host the messaging platform's services on its cloud servers.

To prevent citizens from being able to continue using Telegram's services, the Russian government decided to go from foil to sword by blocking 19 million IPs tied to Amazon and Google's cloud platforms, the same ones on which Telegram also relies. The result? This way Russian users have been blocked from accessing services that have nothing to do with the messaging app.

The blocked services

The IP blockade imposed by the Russian government is creating inefficiencies not only on Telegram but also on many other online services. Also caught in the crossfire between Telegram and Russia are Twitch, Slack, Soundcloud, Viber, Spotify and even many FIFA and Nintendo accounts.