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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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An unprecedented shutdown of the mobile internet in Russia has sparked fears of a digital crackdown in the country and speculation it could be in response to President Vladimir Putin’s fears about his safety.
An internet blackout first reported in some suburbs of Moscow on 5 March that spread throughout the Russian capital has blocked many foreign websites, taxi and delivery apps and government services.
Shutdowns were also later reported in Russia’s second city, Saint Petersburg—including on Sunday—with the Kremlin previously explaining that the disturbances were part of a safety measure to protect against Ukrainian drones relying on satellite communications.
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But the outages coincide with reports from pro-Kremlin bloggers that Putin has beefed up his security around his residence in Moscow, Sochi and the Kremlin.
A Russian security services source quoted by the INSIDER-T Telegram channel, said Putin faced an "internal threat" which included a plot to plant "biochemical material" in his bedsheets or install an explosive device in an area he would visit.
While these claims are unsubstantiated, independent Russian language outlet Agentsvo said on Telegram Putin had curbed his public appearances following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on his residence in Tehran on February 28 which, according to the Financial Times, followed monitoring of his movements through hacked street cameras.
Agentsvo reported a nine-day gap between Putin's public events at the Kremlin since March 9, one of the longest gaps this year, as the outlet noted the high number of virtual meetings the Russian leaders had with officials and meetings and images of him that appeared to be prerecorded.
Andrey Pinchuk, the first minister of state security of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic in Ukraine, also linked the shutdown in Russia to the Iran war in comments to the pro-Kremlin Tsargrad website.
Russian opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov posted on Telegram that the Kremlin had been alarmed by how U.S. and Israeli intelligence had tracked Khamenei through street CCTV cameras.
A link between the outages and Putin’s fears was also made by Kremlin critic Bill Browder who said on Saturday that he was cutting off the internet in Moscow "because he thinks that's how Khomeini was discovered and targeted and killed."
"He has cut off the internet because he thinks that the Ukrainians or perhaps somebody else will use the internet to track him down and kill him," said Browder, a prominent campaigner against Russian corruption.
"These are not the acts of a guy who is self-confident," Browder added.
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