“We don’t consider this situation normal,” Interfax quoted Yandex spokesman Ochir Mandzhikov as saying. “Restricting access to global and Russian internet services will primarily harm the Russian Internet.”
“It is the lack of freedom and lack of choice for users that we consider the most dangerous outcome of the bans,” Mandzhikov said.
VKontakte CEO Andrei Rogozov called the major disruptions caused by Roskomnadzor’s efforts “a lack of understanding of the principles of the modern internet.”
“Providing any keys or gaining access to information beyond the device is impossible by definition,” Rogozov wrote on his page, reiterating Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov’s assertions that the messaging app cannot, in fact, access users’ encrypted messages.