Internet users across Russia who use several different carriers are reporting interruptions in mobile service and problems accessing certain services and websites.
According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, a service called Downradar records complaints about the performance of Russian carriers MTS and Megafon.
Users said they were experiencing problems with tech giant Yandex, social media network VKontakte and online retailer Ozon. There were also complaints about the operations of major banks and marketplace websites. International users also reported problems accessing Russian websites.
MegaFon told news outlet RBC that it had recorded a decrease in traffic volumes, but that the problem was not with “MegaFon’s network.” Telecommunications operator Beeline reported that its network was operating normally and that any possible outage was “outside Beeline’s responsibility.” Telegram channel RVNP reports that Tele2’s services are also working properly.
Specialized Telegram channel Kod Durova reports a “massive outage in the RU domain.” “In the domestic domain zone, there are problems with resolving domain names. Broadly speaking, it is a DNSSEC outage. Because of this, hundreds of services in RuNet and his website are currently out of order.” the channel says.
The Net Freedoms Project describes Domain Name System (DNS) as “like a telephone directory that translates well-known domain addresses (URLs), such as kremlin.ru, into machine-readable IP addresses such as 95.173.136.70.” did. “The relationship between a domain name and an IP address is called a resolution,” the project writes, explaining that DNS is “secured in the form of digital signatures called DNSSEC.” “We protect this important phone directory from tampering by malicious parties,” the project’s post says.
The Net Freedoms Project states that Russian authorities “have long warned that they are seeking to move all users in the country to national DNS servers,” and concludes that this is likely to be happening now.
The .RU/.RF Coordination Center, which manages Russia’s high-level state domain, told St. Petersburg news agency Fontanka that it was working to resolve the issue. They said the issue was related to “global DNSSEC infrastructure.”
Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development said websites in the .ru domain would be restored “in the near future,” Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. The department also said the issue “relates to global DNSSEC infrastructure.” The ministry added that the bottleneck has been resolved for users of Russia’s national domain name system.
