Telegram Outages Reported Across Russia as Block Rumors Swirl

People across Russia began reporting problems accessing Telegram over the weekend, raising speculation among tech industry experts that the government may have already moved to block the messaging app ahead of an anticipated crackdown next month.

Russia's Main Radio Frequency Center, an agency of the media regulator Roskomnadzor, said at least one-third of complaints that began emerging around Saturday came from Moscow, followed by St. Petersburg and several other cities across the country's 11 time zones.