Authorities in Russia’s Dagestan and Chechnya regions have blocked access to the Telegram messaging app over concerns it could be used by hostile groups, according to regional officials quoted by the TASS state news agency.
Dagestan’s digital development minister, Yuri Gamzatov, stated that the decision was made at the federal level due to security risks. “It (Telegram) is often used by enemies, an example of which is the riots at the Makhachkala airport,” he said, referring to the October 2023 anti-Israel riot in Dagestan. During that incident, protesters stormed an airport after calls for antisemitic violence circulated on Telegram.
Telegram, founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov and based in Dubai, has nearly 1 billion users. The app has faced previous crackdowns from Moscow, which unsuccessfully attempted to ban it in 2018 and has demanded user data access.
Gamzatov suggested Telegram could be unblocked in the future but encouraged users to switch to other messaging platforms. Telegram has not yet responded to requests for comment.
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Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for 24 May, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected a German proposal to grant Ukraine “associate” membership of the European Union, warning it would leave Kyiv without a meaningful voice in the bloc.
Ukraine’s military denied that it struck a student dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region on Friday (22 May).
Fighting in the Russia–Ukraine war has intensified sharply, with both sides launching significant strikes far beyond the front lines as the conflict enters its 1,549th day.
The inaugural Enhanced Games began in Las Vegas on Sunday (24 May), launching one of the most controversial experiments in modern sport, in which athletes openly compete using performance-enhancing drugs banned under traditional anti-doping rules.
A "largely negotiated" memorandum of understanding on an Iran peace deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday, though the Iranian Fars news agency disputed that claim.
Police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters in central Belgrade on Saturday, as tens of thousands gathered to demand early elections and an end to the more than decade-long rule of Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić.
A peace agreement between Washington and Tehran is yet to materialise, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying that negotiations are incomplete and an Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman saying that a deal isn't imminent.
An explosion on a railway track in Pakistan's Quetta killed at least 24 people, news outlet Al Arabiya reported on Sunday, citing officials.
China will send an astronaut to its space station on Sunday for a one-year mission, the longest duration for the country so far. The mission will help study long-duration human physiology in space as China works toward a crewed Moon landing by 2030.
Anxiety over artificial intelligence is hardening among young workers as executives promote faster adoption and companies point to automation in fresh job cuts.
Hackers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to detect software vulnerabilities, reducing the time organisations have to respond to cyber threats, Verizon said in its annual data breach report.
China has launched the world’s first experiment to study how artificial human embryos develop in space, marking a major step in understanding whether humans could one day reproduce beyond Earth.
Japanese filmmaker Koji Fukada has said that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to “jump straight to the result” risks undermining the purpose of art, which he believes should be rooted in self-expression and a deeper understanding of the world.
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