Kathrine Frich
Running a business requires happy customers and humming cash registers.
But when the basic digital infrastructure of a modern city suddenly goes dark, making a living gets incredibly tough. Thousands of struggling shop owners just received a very cold shoulder from the people in charge.
No compensation
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Thursday that Moscow is not considering financial support for businesses hurt by the disruptions.
“These kinds of support measures are not under consideration at this time,” Peskov told reporters.
The outages have increasingly affected Moscow and other Russian cities in recent months according to The Moscow Times.
Businesses hit hard
According to estimates cited in Russian media, companies in Moscow may be losing around 1 billion rubles per day because of mobile internet shutdowns.
The disruptions reportedly affect payment systems, taxi services, navigation apps and online platforms used by both residents and businesses.
Officials nevertheless defended the blackouts as necessary security measures.
Victory Day shutdown
Russia’s Digital Development Ministry announced that mobile internet will be fully shut down in Moscow on May 9 during the annual Victory Day parade on Red Square.
The ministry also warned that even government-approved “whitelist” services would be affected during the shutdown.
That includes the Gosuslugi public services portal as well as major Russian platforms such as Yandex, VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.
Fear of attacks
Peskov said Russian security and law enforcement agencies remain on high alert ahead of the celebrations.
He described civilian safety as the government’s “absolute priority” amid concerns about possible Ukrainian drone strikes during Victory Day events.
The Kremlin has repeatedly tightened security around the parade as fears grow over potential attacks targeting Moscow during one of Russia’s most symbolic national holidays.
Sources: The Moscow Times, Russian Digital Development Ministry
