Residents of Dagestan face difficulties due to mobile internet shutdowns

Due to mobile internet outages, it is impossible to call a taxi or pay by card, residents of Makhachkala and Kaspiysk complained. The republic's authorities called this a temporary measure in connection with the possible threat of a UAV flying over the territory of Dagestan.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, before Victory Day, the MTS operator in Dagestan warned subscribers about "temporary difficulties" with mobile internet. Residents of Makhachkala, against the backdrop of communication and mobile internet outages on Victory Day, faced problems when calling a taxi and a jump in prices for passenger transportation.

Mobile internet has not been working in Makhachkala since this morning, Eldar told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I had to take the kids to school and go to work myself, but the taxi app doesn't work. When using Wi-Fi, the app
opens, but apparently because drivers can't connect to it, the prices are crazy - instead of the usual 200 rubles, it shows
600 rubles," the man says.

Most likely, the reason is not the UAV, but the authorities' concerns about possible protests due to power and water outages

Without mobile Internet, bank apps don't work, it's impossible to pay with a card, says Murad, a resident of Kaspiysk.
"Earlier, I received an SMS that mobile Internet was limited due to the UAV threat. The last such message was on August 10, but yesterday and
today there is no mobile Internet. In addition, for some reason, audio calls via WhatsApp* and Telegram began to be blocked,” the man said.

“Most likely, the reason is not the UAV, but the authorities’ concerns about possible protests due to power and water outages,” Gadzhi believes.

A tourist from Samara Maria told a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" that yesterday she was unable to call a taxi because the application did not work. "We wanted to get to the hotel using a map, but the maps on the phone did not open. Luckily, local residents saw us off. “We don’t have anything like that in our city,” says Maria.

“Maybe it’s time to wake up that guy in Dagestan who turns on and off his mobile Internet? What kind of UAV danger is this that has been going on since 10 a.m.? This danger has already been cancelled everywhere: in Sochi, Krasnodar, Vladikavkaz, and other regions of the country, but here it’s still going on and on. What kind of unshootable UAVs are flying to Dagestan that we’re still sitting without the Internet? Or are the local authorities solving their own problems under the pretext of UAVs? Like, let’s turn off the Internet and people will write less about the lack of electricity and water? That is, criticize, criticize, the main thing is that Moscow doesn’t know about it?” the Chernovik Telegram channel published a reader’s appeal on August 10.

Enemies are using technology against us, controlling drones via mobile Internet

The head of Dagestan Sergey Melikov and the Minister of Digital Development of Dagestan Yuri Gamzatov commented on the shutdown of mobile Internet. "These measures are not a whim, but a necessity. Enemies use technology against us, controlling drones via the mobile Internet. Now the Ministry of Digital Development and telecom operators are doing everything possible to mitigate the inconvenience and restore the operation of all services as quickly as possible," Melikov said in his Telegram channel.

"The Ministry of Digital Development of Dagestan, together with telecom operators, is taking all necessary measures to minimize these
inconveniences and quickly restore the operation of all services. Currently, wired communication networks and
Wi-Fi access points, which can be used to access the Internet, continue to function. We are actively working to expand the network of public access points Wi-Fi in all public areas of the cities of Makhachkala and Kaspiysk: parks and squares, shopping and entertainment centers, shops and branches of the MFC. The first such points have already appeared today in the central square of the city of Makhachkala,” said Yuri Gamzatov.

Recall that on March 8, the Minister of Digital Development of Dagestan, Yuri Gamzatov, announced that the Telegram messenger was blocked and does not work in Dagestan and Chechnya. According to him, the decision to do this was made at the federal level on the recommendation of law enforcement agencies, since Telegram is "often used by enemies, an example of this is the riots at the Makhachkala airport [in October 2023]". The authorities acknowledged the blocking of the messenger only in March, although by that time access to Telegram had been absent for several months, local residents indicated. Temporary unblocking of Telegram in Dagestan on May 26 and 27, during the visit of the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, affected only some of the messenger's users in the republic, and from May 28, access to the messenger from Dagestan was again closed.  

* Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is banned in Russia.