Ukrainian military intelligence reveals Kremlin's plan to completely isolate Russians from social networks
Kyiv • UNN
Representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Vadym Skibitskyi stated that international social networks are being systematically pushed out of the RF to ensure control by special services. Telegram and WhatsApp remain the most popular.
The aggressor state Russia has systematically and consistently closed its own information space long before the full-scale invasion. This was stated by Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, during a speech at the Kyiv StratCom Forum 2026 dedicated to the cognitive domain of war, UNN reports.
Details
According to him, the current restrictions on access to global platforms in the Russian Federation are part of a long-term policy of isolating society and shifting the audience to services under the control of Russian special services.
"What is happening in Russia did not start today or even in 2022. The isolation of society was the basis for the stability of the Putin regime,"
He noted that Russia is consistently displacing international platforms and moving its audience to its own digital services. Thus, after the blocking of Facebook, Instagram, and other resources in 2022, the next stage was the restriction of YouTube, and in 2026 - the tightening of control over Telegram, WhatsApp, and TikTok.
At the same time, even despite the restrictions, these services still remain among the most used in the territory of the aggressor state: Telegram - 71%, WhatsApp - ~60%, TikTok - ~54%, YouTube - ~53%. According to military intelligence estimates, these figures could decrease significantly over the next few years.
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The representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate explained that the gradual restriction of Russians' access to international platforms leads not only to the displacement of independent content but also to the growing influence of Kremlin-controlled resources and the creation of an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship.
"To the extent that state censorship is serious and the special services control media resources—to that extent, people are simply afraid to post certain narratives and content because they can be punished for it,"
He emphasized that Ukrainian intelligence agencies continue their work to bring the truth to the audience inside Russia.
"We will do everything to deliver truthful and accurate information to the consumer in the territory of the informationally isolated Russian Federation," the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stressed.
As a reminder
Polls conducted by both Russian state and independent institutions show growing public dissatisfaction with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, likely due to the increasing number of military casualties in the war against Ukraine and the Kremlin's intensified censorship campaign.