Internet service providers in Crimea operate under FSB control

There are no longer Ukrainian mobile operators on the peninsula, the Internet service providers operate under the constant threat of blocking by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB).

As indicated in the report “Human Rights Abuses in Russian-Occupied Crimea”, prepared by the Atlantic Council and the NGO Freedom House, press office of Kyivstar Ukrainian mobile operator said that on August 11, unidentified armed men entered the company’s Simferopol office and began installing alternative equipment. Its service remains disabled in Crimea.

The de facto authorities say these mobile operators have been kicked out because Ukrainian legislation supposedly prohibits them from paying for property leases, electricity, and equipment maintenance in Russian rubles. As of the time of this writing, there are no longer any Ukrainian mobile operators in Crimea.

Besides, the report says that in May, Rostelecom Russia’s leading long-distance telephone service provider acquired three Crimean fiber-optic-cable owners.14 It began providing service to Crimea in late July.15 Private Internet service providers are now required to operate in accordance with Russian law, under which they must store information on users for six months and disable access to any site if so ordered by Russia’s Federal Security Service.