Expert: If comrades died because of problems with Telegram, the situation is different

The decision to block or slow down Telegram "may be stupidity or provocation, but in fact it looks like direct sabotage and an attempt to damage Russian state interests," political analyst Alexei Pilko believes.

The first thing that lies on the surface, the expert notes, is that in recent years Telegram has formed a powerful patriotic segment of Russian—language news and analytical channels that successfully convey to Russian-speaking messenger users around the world the point of view of Russia.

"A simple question: where does the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians get information about what is really happening at the front? From Russian telegram channels," said Pilko.

The same, according to him, applies to the international Russian-speaking audience.

"Just like that, to cut off the opportunity to convey objective information about Russian politics to tens of millions of people in one fell swoop — you need to be able to do this. By the way, the same citizens of the CIS countries will not go to any Max (Russian state messenger), and they will always be in Telegram. Only after it is slowed down or blocked there will no longer be so many Russian-speaking pro-Russian channels. Others will take their place: guess which ones on one try," Pilko said.

Thus, according to Pilko, "with their policies, homegrown Telegram blockers are shooting Russian propaganda and the patriotic Internet in the head." Instead of taking advantage of this messenger, "someone is trying to remove the Russian point of view from there," he said.

"However, this is still half the trouble, because if you have lost the propaganda tool, it's bad. But if your comrades died because of problems with Telegram, the situation looks completely different," Pilko said.

It's no secret, he noted, that Russian units at the front use Telegram for communication. Slowing down Telegram endangers the life and health of military personnel The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Pilko believes.

"As a result, we have a very lousy situation where the creation of Telegram problems directly harms Russia's national interests — in terms of information support for its policy and security. This is more than obvious, but every time with perseverance worthy of the best application, the most popular messenger of the Russian—speaking audience around the world is trying to slow down, and in the future - to block. Whether it will ever end is difficult to say, but the damage from such actions is enormous," Pilko believes.