THE BELL WEEKLY: The Kremlin versus YouTube

Hello! This week we cover Russian authorities slowing down traffic to YouTube and WhatsApp. We also look at the latest targeting of anti-war exiles and why a plane crash has shone a light on Russia’s import substitution drive.

Russia puts the brakes on YouTube, WhatsApp

After abandoning plans to block popular Western internet services, the Russian authorities have now moved to trying to slow them down. This week it emerged that YouTube was being throttled — a platform where millions of Russians watch reports and interviews from independent journalists undermining the Kremlin’s case for its war in Ukraine. Whatsapp, too, has been targeted as officials say the messenger is used by terrorist groups. The goal is to make the services cumbersome and annoying, to frustrate Russians to switch into home-grown alternatives that Moscow has under tighter control.

• Talk of blocking YouTube in Russia first started shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian authorities adopted a number of laws which, in effect, imposed military censorship — for instance, the war can not be called a “war”, and any statements that contradict the defense ministry’s official statements on the conflict could lead to imprisonment. Russia also blocked Facebook and Twitter, and it seemed that banning YouTube was only a matter of time — especially considering the huge amount of uncensored content freely released by independent media, journalists and bloggers on the site.
• But two and a half years later, YouTube is still accessible inside Russia. We can only guess at the reasons why, but it should be noted that the site has also proved useful for Russian propaganda. Even though YouTube-owner Google blocked some state-run and pro-war channels, many pro-Kremlin clips are still on the platform, some of which have hundreds of thousands of views. A YouTube channel called Mirnye(“Peaceful”) created by a journalist from state media agency RIA Novosti, is among those still online. Typical footage includes reportage from the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, recorded by Russian troops defending their brutal capture of the city. 
• When it became clear Russia was not going to outright block YouTube, the conversation switched to slowing it down. Sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion meant Google could no longer maintain its Google Global Cache local servers, which ensure that videos load quickly and in good quality. The system worked by allowing local providers to store Google content on their local servers — meaning once a piece of content (i.e. a video) has been watched it is stored on the local provider’s cache, allowing the next person to watch it by downloading it from that server, rather than Google’s main US-based network. It significantly reduces download and wait times, making the service more effective for viewers and content creators alike. It’s precisely because GGC works so well that YouTube has become the world’s leading video hosting platform.
• This week Rostelecom, one of the country’s leading comms providers, unexpectedly announced that the quality of YouTube in Russia would deteriorate. It said users would notice longer download times and lower image quality. The company cited an overload of GGC as a reason. Although the explanation seems plausible, the issue has been known for a long time, as Google reportedly started notifying Russian internet providers in May 2022 that it was disconnecting them from the GGC network.
• Instead, experts generally agree that the recent decline of YouTube in Russia is happening in a controlled fashion at the behest of the Russian authorities. For one thing, equipment does not degrade overnight, it takes time — meaning service quality should decline gradually, not suddenly. Moreover, many providers began to actively restrict the googlevideo.com domain from which YouTube videos are distributed. Adding more weight to this theory, Russian MP Anton Gorelkin — known as the “internet strangler” — recently wrote that the platform could indeed be slowed down, although there was no clear timeframe for a complete ban or block.
• Popular messenger WhatsApp has also fallen into the crosshairs. In their case, the authorities have openly admitted their role. According to parliamentarian Anton Nemkin, the Russian authorities repeatedly demanded that WhatsApp “suppress calls to take part in extremist actions, but there was no reaction.” So far we know that problems with accessing the messenger were seen in Dagestan, a Muslim-majority region in Russia’s North Caucasus where a series of terrorist attacks last month left more than 20 people dead.

Why the world should care:

Gradually degrading YouTube before finally blocking it may be a smart approach for the Kremlin. Slowing down a service that attracts an average of more than 55 million users a day in Russia could help them bring that number down, undermining YouTube’s popularity before finally flicking the switch. However, all previous state-backed efforts to create a successful Russian rival have failed. Without a successful alternative, there may no longer be much sense in stalling for time and trying to compete. After YouTube is blocked, users will be forced to use the homegrown alternative, under the control of the Kremlin, whatever its quality.

Russia cancels national ID cards for anti-war exiles

It seems that the Russian authorities have found a new way of pressuring opposition activists who left the country: annulling their internal passports — effectively a national ID card. So far a few cases have emerged and it is not clear whether this will be a widespread measure. But the potential cancellation of internal passports threatens serious bureaucratic problems for Russian citizens living abroad.

• Two political activists from Omsk, Siberia’s largest city, had their internal passports annulled, they reported last week. Daniil Cheykin and Richard King, founders of the Omsk Civil Association project, which reported on political repression in the Siberian region of Omsk, discovered in exile that their documents — which effectively work as a national ID card and are issued to every Russian citizen — had stopped working. Both left Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine and headed to Armenia. King later moved to Germany. 
• Chebykin learned that his passport was no longer valid in 2023 when he tried to use a Russian banking app and was unable to access the Russian government’s state services portal, Gosuslugi. King first had problems in early 2024. The activists attribute their problems to the fact that they visited Russian embassies to try to change their regular passports, which are used for international travel.
• Chebykin and King cannot reactivate their internal passports from abroad. They would have to return to Russia, where they could be arrested and jailed. Without a valid internal passport, Russians are not only unable to get new passports for foreign travel, they are also unable to request consular services, experts said. Chebykin is now applying for refugee status in Armenia, while King has a German document confirming his identity before he secures residency. 
• According to the pair, they know of at least three more individuals whose internal passports were annulled.

Why the world should care:

According to law, Russian internal passports can only be officially canceled if found to contain an error, for instance, the holder’s personal information was printed incorrectly. However, experts believe that in the future more ‘reasons’ will be found by which to declare official government documents invalid, something that could seriously complicate life for anti-war activists living abroad. Nevertheless, it should be noted that so far only isolated cases like King’s and Chebykin’s have emerged, so it is hard to say whether this practice will be used more widely.

Jet crash prompts speculation over Russia’s import substitution drive

Last Friday, a Russian Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) 100 passenger aircraft crashed near Moscow, killing all three crew members on board. The plane was flying to Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after having undergone repair work. First developed in the 2000s, the model never took off with airlines either abroad or at home. The Russian-made jet has historically used some Western components, but under sanctions Moscow has been forced to source new parts and has touted a multi-billion dollar import substitution plan for the plane. The crash prompted speculation over the future of that program.

• The plane, which was not carrying any passengers, crashed 10 minutes after take-off and there have been several preliminary theories put forward as to what went wrong. Sources in Russia’s emergency services were quoted as saying both engines failed after a bird strike. Another plausible explanation that has been put forward is a system failure connected with on-board electronics.
• The plane was produced in 2014 and belonged to the Gazprom Avia airline, which is 100% owned by gas giant Gazprom. Its initial service warranty ran until 2020.
• Immediately after the crash, the Trade and Industry Ministry said the plane involved was not a jet that had been made using fully Russian parts. The main difference would be the use of Russian PD-8 engines in place of the Franco-Russian SAM146. Russian sources suggested that the disaster could be blamed on the SAM146 engine.
• The development of the new Russian-only Sukhoi Superjet 100 was slated to cost $1.4-1.5 billion. The plane is in testing mode. Aeroflot, Russia’s leading carrier, expected to receive the first deliveries in 2023, but that date has been pushed back. It is not currently known when the first of the new planes will be operational.

Why the world should care:

If the preliminary explanation for the crash is confirmed as being a problem with the foreign-made components, then the billions being poured into producing a Russian-made alternative (and the missed deadlines, flagrant even by aviation industry standards) can be seen as justified. But for now, the exact cause of the crash remains unknown. If a faulty part, something produced domestically, or poor service or repairs were to blame, then the crash will just heap yet more questions as to the viability of Russia’s import-substitution program, and the safety of Russian aviation overall.