The Russian authorities have begun blocking foreign SIM cards from accessing the internet and texting services for 24 hours after entering the country, the Belarusian Communications Ministry said on Tuesday.
“Russian telecom operators are introducing a mandatory 24-hour block on data and SMS services for all roaming subscribers on Russian telecom networks,” the ministry said, adding that the restrictions had begun on Monday.
Though foreign SIM cards are unblocked once they have been in Russia for 24 hours, if the SIM is not used to access any services within three days, the SIM card would be blocked again, the ministry continued.
The new restrictions were later confirmed by multiple Belarusian telecom operators, including A1, which said that it had not been informed of the changes in advance. Meanwhile, Kazakh operator Tele2 advised users not to change roaming providers once in Russia, as this would automatically renew the 24-hour block.
Digital monitoring project Na Svyazi told independent media outlet Agentstvo that Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor had not made any formal announcement about the new policy.
Telegram channel Ranarod said on Monday that blocks on foreign SIMs had been observed as early as Monday, while telecoms research analyst Eldar Murtazin also reported the block on Monday, and said that similar issues had been experienced by users in regions close to the Ukrainian border as early as last week.
The new restrictions may be tied to a so-called cooling-off period for foreign SIM cards that the Russian authorities were planning to introduce in order to distinguish them from foreign SIM cards being used in Ukrainian combat drones, tech-specialist media outlet Rozetked said on Monday.