Residents of the North Caucasus reported problems accessing Telegram.

The active slowdown of Telegram in recent days has created serious inconvenience for users of the messenger in the republics of the North Caucasus. People have lost an accessible way to communicate with relatives, and entrepreneurs have lost established connections with clients and are suffering losses.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," in October 2025, Telegram channel authors in the North Caucasus and Southern Federal Districts experienced a decrease in readership, difficulties posting, and reader complaints about access issues with Telegram. Meanwhile, in Dagestan, restrictions on access to messengers introduced in 2024 have been eased, local journalists reported. In February, amid the slowdown in Telegram, the Dagestan Ministry of Digital Development placed a contract for a VPN service. Makhachkala residents reported that Telegram and WhatsApp* still won't open without a VPN.

In Dagestan, where Telegram has been blocked for over a year, accessing the messaging app has become even more difficult in the past month than before, Makhachkala resident Isa told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Despite a connected VPN, it takes a long time to load, and photos and videos cannot be sent or received," the man said.

Makhachkala resident Rashid noted that, along with Telegram, WhatsApp* is practically unavailable. "Voice messages and photos aren't getting through in either messenger. There's also a problem with voice calls; sometimes I can make calls using a VPN or proxy server. We have relatives living abroad; we used to be able to communicate with them for free via voice and video calls, but now it's become difficult," he said.

“Telegram works very poorly, especially the desktop version. It's somewhat usable on a mobile phone, but I still have to use a VPN; there's no other way. The problem has gotten worse in the last two or three weeks,” said Rustam.

“We're required to post information about our work on our Telegram channel, and all government agencies in Dagestan do the same. Are officials not thinking about how to do this when the messenger is blocked? It doesn't always work with a VPN, let alone calls. My sister has her own business, vendor channels, and chats—everything is on Telegram. She says it's become very difficult to work,” shared Zainab.

In Kabardino-Balkaria, users noticed a significant slowdown in Telegram about a week ago, and in recent days, channels and chats have practically stopped loading. Messages also aren't being sent, videos and photos aren't loading, and bypass programs are generally ineffective, according to active users of the messenger.

Lyudmila Tarasova actively used Telegram on her home computer and mobile phone for a long time. She doesn't consider it the most convenient way to communicate and make calls, but she does use it as a source of up-to-date information.

“I subscribed to dozens of news channels. I read military bloggers, various political scientists, and other well-known and respected people. I read to get information about events happening in the country and around the world from different sources, to compare and come to an opinion. Now that’s impossible: the channels either don’t load at all or you have to wait a long time. Not all VPNs can help, whether on a computer or a phone,” she said.

She noted that she doesn’t expect the messenger’s blocking to be beneficial, “after all, those who seek out destructive information or spread it can do so through other sources.”

Nalsk resident Aslan Balov stated that the blocking of Telegram is creating enormous inconvenience and problems. "First and foremost, it's for channels created by entrepreneurs to develop their businesses—for advertising, communication with clients, and customers. Blocking them causes traffic to drop, subscribers and advertisers to leave. Businesses suffer direct financial losses," he said.

By banning it, people were essentially deprived of a simple way to communicate with each other. This is especially true for those with relatives living abroad.

Nalchik resident Arsen Titanyan, by contrast, doesn't consider restricted access to Telegram a major problem. "I haven't used Telegram much; I find it inconvenient as a messenger. I was much more upset by the ban on WhatsApp*. It allowed both instant messaging and free phone calls. By banning it, people were essentially deprived of a simple way to communicate. This is especially true for those with relatives living abroad. For example, I often called Georgia, where I have relatives, but now that option is no longer available. Calling on a regular mobile phone is very expensive," the man explained.

Blogger Anastasia Yemelyanova from Prokhladny regretfully noted that there is almost no free internet left in the country. "Telegram isn't working. YouTube isn't working, Instagram* isn't working. The only apps left are Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, and Max, and the last two are full of scammers. I'm afraid to install Max at all, since it's linked to Gosuslugi, which stores all my personal data, and I don't know how scammers could exploit it," she told the Caucasian Knot.

The restricted access to Telegram, which has become especially noticeable in recent days, is "making it difficult for me to function." "I have a small business, and I used to communicate with clients via WhatsApp* and Telegram, but now that's no longer possible," Yemelyanova explained.

Only Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, and Max remain, and the latter two are full of scammers.

One of the respondents to Kabardino-Balkaria, who wished to remain anonymous, considered blocking Telegram the right decision. "If the authorities decided to shut down Telegram, then there must be a serious reason. What can you do if its creator doesn't comply with Russian law and doesn't remove channels used to distribute drugs, pornography, and so on," he said.

Works with a VPN, if you're lucky.

Telegram has been blocked in Chechnya before, but using the messenger has become extremely problematic in recent days, said Grozny resident Yunus. “For example, you send photos or videos, and they might arrive the next day. This applies to both phone and computer versions. Someone sent me something just yesterday, and only opened it somewhere this afternoon, and even then he had to wait for it to download. And that was with a VPN, of course,” the man told Caucasian Knot. Yunus’s experience with other messengers also leaves much to be desired. “For example, WhatsApp* doesn’t work for me. But I ask others, and they say it works, if you choose the right VPN. So they try it on one, WhatsApp* doesn’t work, then they try it on another, and it works. Basically, it’s like the Middle Ages now,” Yunus concluded. Inga often visits Chechnya and communicates daily with residents of the republic via Telegram. “I message my friends every day, we send photos and videos. Everything works, with a VPN, of course.” "WhatsApp* works with a VPN, but one of the subscribers has to be using a non-Russian number," she noted.

Akhmed, a resident of Ingushetia, reported that messaging on Telegram is still possible with a VPN. "I rarely watch any channels. A lot depends on the internet quality. In July and August of last year, they practically shut down our mobile internet—maybe they tried it first in the Caucasus, and then it's reached Moscow now. We were talking about that back then, that they were implementing something there," he noted.

According to him, WhatsApp* is also accessible via VPN in Ingushetia. "I haven't made calls in a while, but messages and texts are still getting through. Today, someone in Umra texted me, and they're getting through fine from there." "And calling works if both you and the recipient are on VPN," Akhmed explained.

Telegram slowdown creates problems for entrepreneurs

Users in North Ossetia have been reporting significant Telegram outages in recent days, freelance designer Maria told the "Caucasian Knot."

"I started having problems the other day, and it's really critical for my work. I communicate with clients through Telegram, receive specifications, send layouts—and then everything crashed. First, I noticed that the files were heavy; design layouts of 20-50 MB weren't sending at all, and they stayed stuck in the "loading" status for hours. Then I started having problems with photos: screenshots of client edits weren't uploading, and I had to sit and wait for 10 minutes, whereas before, they were instant. Voice messages from clients are also slow: they spend five minutes giving me edits, and the audio takes forever to load. The last three days have been a nightmare; some chats simply won't open, just saying "connecting," and that's it," she said.

For now, the only way to bypass the blocking is a high-quality paid VPN. "It's a lifesaver, in a sense, but it's clear that if they decided to block the messenger, it will soon stop working with the VPN. So, I've decided to slowly move to another messenger, but I don't know which one." "No one offers such a convenient and intuitive interface as Telegram," laments Maria.

A VPN helps bypass blocking and slowdowns, but it's not a solution, says Zalina, a manager at a smart robot vacuum company.

"I have 120 work chats with our clients, with whom our company has been working for five years, and we keep the entire chat history. It's both a database and important information for us. Not all of our clients and their employees have decent VPN services to continue communicating with them. So now the question is, what should we do with these work chats and their history? Should we export them to WhatsApp*, which could also be blocked?" " she told the "Caucasian Knot."

According to her, the messenger started working poorly over the past week. "But it's been worst since Sunday (March 15): nothing really loads, calls have stopped working altogether, only messaging without heavy files," Zalina noted. .

Local activist Alik said that the younger generation suffers the most from the messenger block. "Telegram is popular among young people, while the rest mainly use other messengers, such as WhatsApp*. And most young people know how to overcome the block and slowdowns. Another question is how long the services that help bypass the slowdowns will work," he told the "Caucasian Knot."

According to him, the messenger's performance slowed down sharply on Saturday, March 14. "I use a paid VPN, but I started noticing a slowdown in Telegram." "Without a VPN, making calls and sending large files will be impossible, and voice and text messages will take longer than usual to send, sometimes even loading. I haven't noticed any issues with other messengers; they seem to be working as usual," shared a resident of North Ossetia.