Russia blocked 15.8 million IPs Amazon and Google to block Telegram

Recently, Roskomanadzor, a Russian media watchdog, has introduced new federal laws whereby it will block the use of Telegram - an encrypted secure chat application, which is the preferred tool of all. journalists or opposition parties of Russia. The censorship began on April 16 when Roskomnadzor forced Internet service providers to block requests to the Telegram server's IP addresses.

When users switch to virtual private networks and proxy changing services to access Telegram from phones and computers, the government must expand its 'sweeping zone'. According to sources from Russia, ISPs now block many IP addresses associated with Amazon and Google cloud services.

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Alexander Zharov, Director of Roskomnadzor, confirmed that Amazon's addresses were blocked 'because users of Telegram began using them to bypass Russian regulations.'

Telegram is not the first secure chat application targeted by the Russian government. Zello application has also been blocked in Russia. According to the Meduza Project, more than 800,000 Amazon IP addresses were blocked and then more than 1 million Google addresses (35.192.0.0/12).

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There are more than 15 million IP addresses blocked in Russia

These addresses add to the number of previously blocked IPs, many due to blocking Zello users. According to Meduza, Amazon has asked Zello to stop using its servers and force them to switch to Google's cloud service.

By April 17, there were more than 15 million blocked IP addresses, based on the tracking of the service provider on the domain registered with the Internet technology support and infrastructure development agency. This page also provides instructions for downloading proxy server images for use on cloud services.

The new censorship law was introduced when Telegram refused to hand over customers' encryption keys to Russia's spy operations. Many people object to Roskomnadzor's decision because blocking IP also blocks many other legitimate services. Many online games, mobile applications or virtual money are inaccessible.

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Neither Amazon nor Google has commented on the incident.

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