Russia has issued an Internet ban suspected of blocking Telegram

Decrypt April 13reportsRussian lawmakers on Thursday approved a controversial bill that would cut off Internet traffic to Russia from foreign servers and block the popular messaging app Telegram.

The bill aims to cover all Internet traffic through Russian servers, enabling the government to control information and block messages or other applications.

"Telegram is the last secure communication software available to russians, but it has been under attack by the government for the past year," said Mikhail Svetov, a spokesman for the protest organizer, the libertarian party of Russia.

The bill's authors say the goal is to "ensure a stable, secure and seamless" Internet, but it raises concerns because it means the bill will usher in a new era of widespread censorship. Meanwhile, Moscow is trying to quell any such debate. Since Tuesday, Russian media have deleted regulatory comments that the bill would target the popular messaging app Telegram. Russia's main security agency, the FSB, has listed Telegram as the preferred means of communication for "international terrorist organizations in Russia."

This is not the first time the Russian government has tried to shut down Telegram. When the Russian government first tried to ban it a year ago, entire networks, online stores, services and even ticket sales at kremlin museums were inadvertently blocked. But the messaging app USES a clever IP address change system that is now smarter than government walls.

Telegram is hugely popular in Russia, where its encryption technology allows people to communicate without government surveillance. As a result, the controversial Internet bill was passed for the first time in Duma, Russia, amid the biggest demonstrations in Moscow since 2011. The $1.7 billion messaging app was created by "Russia's mark zuckerberg" - Pavel Durov. Durov made his name in 2007 by developing a Russian version of Facebook and recently launched a cryptocurrency, a social media network called Vkontakte (VK). Durov was forced to flee Russia and sell his VK shares when he refused to hand over the company's keys to the security services in violation of a court order.

He founded Telegram in dubai. Its much-anticipated GRAM token is currently on the block chain-based Telegram Open Network & Telegram; (TON) test on the platform. The token is expected to launch this fall, but Russia's Internet ban is likely to take effect before then. Once the ban is signed into law, only the approval of the upper house and the signature of President Vladimir Putin can block the plan to cut off Russia's Internet.

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