Analysis: Putin is showing how far he will go in order to keep his image intact

For a quarter of a century, Vladimir Putin has been in control of Russia.

Over the years, he has marketed himself as a “father” of Russian society: a shirtless strongman, a hockey player, a historian — always having things under control.

But a war in Ukraine that will soon have been raging for four years is starting to make the image of a man in control crumble — especially as the Russian public begins to feel the strain of the war effort in the form of increased taxes and oil shortages.

This week, however, Putin seems to have inadvertently shown his deepest fear: that his image will collapse.

And the Kremlin appears to be trying to remove any possibility of the strongman image being torn apart.

WhatsApp and Telegram

On February 12, 2026, the Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp reported that the Russian authorities were trying to fully block the app from the Russian market.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the attempt and said that the blocking was due to Meta not being willing to comply with Russian law.

A couple of days earlier, on February 9 and 10, 2026, Telegram was disrupted in Russia.

With three out of four Russians above the age of 13 using the app, this caused major uproar, especially when it turned out that the reason for the disruption was the Russian federal censor, Roskomnadzor.

Military bloggers and soldiers rage

This prompted massive backlash from pro-Kremlin military bloggers (milbloggers), who use Telegram to post updates on the war in Ukraine, as well as from Russian soldiers in Ukraine, since Telegram is widely used by troops to coordinate and warn of incoming drone attacks.

In response to the backlash, the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Lieutenant General Andrei Kartapolov, said that “this messenger is used minimally during combat operations,” the Russian outlet Life reported.

This aligns with a statement from Peskov, who stated that “I don’t think it’s possible to imagine frontline communications being provided via Telegram or some other messenger,” according to Life.

But the two statements reveal something far more interesting:

• Either that the Kremlin really has no idea of the situation on the ground in Ukraine,
• or that Putin and his associates are willing to sacrifice the lives of Russian soldiers in order to stay in power.

Cutting Russia off from the internet

On February 11, 2026, the independent Russian outlet iStories reported that Roskomnadzor has now blocked at least 13 Western domains.

These include YouTube, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, and VPN services like Windscribe.

According to iStories, the international domains have been removed from the National System of Internet Access (NSDI).

The NSDI is a digital infrastructure created under the “RuNet” law, implemented in 2019, which enables Russian authorities to isolate their segment of the internet.

Or in layman’s terms: It allows the Kremlin to decide which internet services and domains can be accessed by the Russian public.

Does this sound familiar? Like something you’ve heard about somewhere else?

The Great Firewall of Russia

China has what is known as the “Great Firewall of China.” It is said to be the most sophisticated and advanced system for internet censorship in the world.

Some of its main features are that it restricts access to foreign internet content as well as enables authorities to regulate and monitor what is being published.

Following the blocking of WhatsApp, the Kremlin urged the Russian public to use the Russian messenger platform “MAX” instead, NBC News reported.

However, MAX is owned by the Russian state, and critics warn that the messaging platform is actually a surveillance tool — something the Russian authorities deny.

Is the Telegram block an attempt at silencing critics?

Turning to the Telegram disruptions earlier this week, this is particularly interesting.

First of all, the Russian authorities and regional governors use Telegram to inform the public, which begs the question of why the authorities would want to block it.

This might have to do with the milbloggers.

With millions of followers on Telegram, the traditionally pro-Kremlin bloggers have a huge audience. But as the war grinds on, they have begun to grow increasingly critical of the Russian effort.

For example, the milbloggers have coined the term “beautiful report” when describing what they believe to be exaggerated or downright false reports from the Russian command regarding the war effort.

So if the Kremlin wants to control the narrative about the war, these milbloggers will need to be silenced — and throttling Telegram might be the Russian authorities’ attempt to do just that.

Iran as a warning

During the ongoing protests in Iran, the authorities have disrupted access to the internet and mobile services for weeks.

During the Arab Spring from 2010 to 2012, the internet and social media were widely used by protesters to coordinate and update one another, so the Iranian shutdown of the internet is probably an attempt to avoid an “Iranian Spring.”

In November 2025, The Moscow Times reported that in some Russian regions, internet blackouts have now become the new normal, as authorities shut off internet access for “security reasons” — only for access to remain shut down indefinitely.

Heading towards thought control

The Russian authorities are promoting a narrative that a Russian victory is inevitable.

But if things are actually going so well for the Russian army, why the crackdown on the sliver of free speech that still exists in Russia?

Putin has been in power since the beginning of the millennium. He has gradually asserted his control over all parts of Russian society and cracked down on protests and political opposition.

But with the war in Ukraine soon reaching the four-year mark, the Russian economy on the ropes, and an increasing need for new Russian recruits due to unfathomable losses in Ukraine, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Putin to maintain his “everything is under control” image.

The Institute for the Study of War notes in its February 12 2026 update on the war in Ukraine, that this weeks crackdown on WhatsApp and other Western social media platforms, online services and outlets is likely an intensified attempt to incentivize Russian to switch to state-controlled alternatives like MAX.

And since the Kremlin appears willing to block the most popular Russian-born messaging app in Russia (Telegram), Putin is clearly growing increasingly nervous about his image crumbling.

And what better way to make sure this image stays intact than by removing the possibility of introducing the idea of anything else.

Sources: Institute for the Study of War (ISW), NBC News, The Moscow Times, iStories, Life.ru, Telegram-posts from milbloggers

This article is made and published by Jens Asbjørn Bogen, who may have used AI in the preparation