Kremlin says other services should not be affected by court-ordered block on Telegram

Efforts by Russia’s telecom and media watchdog, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, on blocking Telegram should not affect other services, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, adding that it is still necessary to enforce the court’s decision, TASS reported.

"We have repeatedly stressed that Roskomnadzor’s actions to restrict access to the messenger (Telegram - TASS) in question is pursuant to the court’s decision," he said when commenting on the complaints of other online players. "Of course, those actions should not affect other services, this is clear," Peskov resumed. "Meanwhile, there are certain technological and technical hurdles in this regard. Probably, the very process of restricting access to Telegram has turned out to be more difficult than previously expected, which does not mean though that the court’s decision should not be enforced," the Kremlin spokesman emphasized.

Replying to a statement by the internet service Yandex that the regulator’s actions to block Telegram, ended up restricting access to global and Russian internet services, and would primarily affect the Russian section of the global network, Peskov said: "To agree or not agree with such statements one has to obtain required technical expert evidence." "Obviously, the presidential administration cannot obtain this evidence," he added.