By John Q. Hosedrinker 
The Ulyanovsk region of Russia will indefinitely lack mobile internet access due to federal restrictions implemented “to ensure state security,” according to regional officials. These restrictions, affecting residential areas and businesses, are mandated by Moscow and will remain in place “until the end of the war against Ukraine”. While the government emphasizes these are permanent security measures, residents are encouraged to utilize available public Wi-Fi hotspots and a “white list” of accessible online services. This move follows a new federal decision to expand security zones around strategic facilities in response to perceived threats, and comes as new decrees require telecommunication providers to terminate user access based on FSB requests.
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Russia Imposes Indefinite Mobile Internet Blackout in Ulyanovsk Region “Until End of War,” and the initial question bubbling up is, have they finally decided to call an end to this “special military operation” after all this time? Perhaps they’re tired of Ukraine leveraging Russian phone services to target their sensitive assets with drones and missiles. It certainly would make things a lot harder on the Ukrainian side if the Russians shut it all down.
Now nobody gets to use the phones, and that’s a pretty bold move. It’s hard not to wonder if Russia is inadvertently positioning itself to become something of a “fifth-world” country. The phrase itself is certainly ominous. So, we’re told that a cool 1.3 million people are suddenly without mobile internet. What could possibly go wrong? Is this a carefully controlled test of how the population will react when their communication is suddenly stripped away? Or is there something incredibly important they’ve moved into the region, something they can’t risk being targeted by drone strikes or having locals leak information about. Given the current information control environment, it makes one wonder if a so-called “war” is just the perfect excuse for something else entirely. Maybe they just need to quietly steal manpower or clamp down on civilians.
“War?” It certainly begs the question. What war, exactly? And why now? Is it possible that Ukraine has been piggybacking off of unsecured Russian Wi-Fi to identify targets? It’s worth noting the word “war” has been largely absent, replaced by the term “special military operation.”
More importantly, why Ulyanovsk specifically? Are there a lot of refinery strikes happening there, or is there a concentration of critical facilities? It seems like an odd choice, given its distance from the front lines and with at least four oblasts in between. This makes you wonder if it is less about the current situation, and more about how the situation might be handled on a macro level in the future.
The truth seems to be, you can’t just cancel things in Russia. The people would never allow it. He can’t continue taking land… not with what army is left, anyway. The best approach might just be to maintain a frozen front, keeping the public in a state of emergency to prevent riots, but without advancing or they’ll be fought back.
The title might be a little misleading. They’re not completely losing internet access. They’re just limited to government-approved apps and services. This is, at its core, about information control, echoing tactics you might see in North Korea. To add to the absurdity, it is being tested in a relatively unknown region.
This isn’t about one specific attack; it’s about control over the population, potentially as a precursor to a wider rollout. They want to see how the populace reacts. Ulyanovsk is a perfect testing ground because it is essentially a “shit hole,” in the grand scheme of things.
Ulyanovsk is a serious industrial hub. It is home to UAZ (the automobile manufacturer), the Aviastar-SP Aircraft Company, Scientific and Production Association “Mars,” Ulyanovsk Cartridge Works, Ulyanovsk Motor Plant, and the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Plant. There’s also the Volga-Dnepr Airlines, an international airline for unique and heavy cargo.
There are also a ton of international manufacturing facilities and a sizable military presence. The 31st Airborne Brigade of the Russian Airborne Troops is based in Ulyanovsk.
And, of course, the ever-so-important fact that Lenin was born there.
Drones, which rely on SIM cards to operate, must utilize mobile services, right? If you were trying to establish a covert communications network, hiding amongst the cell phones seems like a brilliant strategy. Is the goal to prevent people from uploading battle damage assessments for Ukraine? Also, to quell espionage?
Could it be that the troops themselves rely on mobile phones? Perhaps they don’t want to create a total blackout at their own front. In border regions, this type of shutdown has already been happening quietly for months.
Given that the area is over 400 miles east of Moscow, taking it over would be a near-impossible feat. Maybe the clamp-down is because the area was hit or something similar? Also, what about the potential that there are spare parts needed in Moscow, and the infrastructure is being scrapped in a neglected region? It sounds as though both are applicable. This is the kind of block that might actually work against VPNs. The trouble with stopping VPNs is that it’s difficult to know what is and isn’t a VPN from the outside. When you block everything you don’t control, however, it’s pretty trivial: if it isn’t connecting to your servers, you block it.