ASTRA: Russia cuts mobile internet in St. Petersburg, targets lawyer over Facebook link PHOTO

Mobile internet has been shut down in Russia’s northern capital, Saint Petersburg, affecting mobile users across the city. 

Messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp are reportedly not working, while only applications from a “white list”—allowed to function despite restrictions—remain operational, ASTRA reports.

Earlier, amid the mobile internet outage in Saint Petersburg, Russia reported a notable development regarding a criminal case over a Facebook link, marking the first time in the country that a criminal case may be considered over the publication of a hyperlink to Facebook.

According to information published on the Leninsky District Court’s website, the case involves Alexey Sokolov, a lawyer and human rights activist from the Urals, who is charged under Part 1 of Article 282.4 of the Russian Criminal Code (“repeated display of extremist symbols”) for posting a hyperlink to Facebook, which has been designated as an extremist organisation in Russia.

The case was initiated in the summer of 2024. In 2023, Sokolov was previously detained for five days for displaying the Facebook logo on the “Human Rights Defenders of the Urals” website. In July 2025, the first-instance judge returned the case to the prosecutor due to errors in the indictment. 

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court has now overturned that decision and sent the case back to the district court for substantive review.

By Jeyhun Aghazada