Russian Residents Massively "google" How To Leave The Country And Buy Pagers
8- 22.03.2026, 11:43
- 3,044
Internet blocking is increasingly affecting the daily lives of Russians.
Russians are increasingly looking for ways to leave the country, as mass disconnections of mobile Internet and the economic crisis negatively affect their daily lives. This was pointed out by the telegram channel "layout", analyzing data from Google Trends.
It is noted that interest in search queries such as "how to leave Russia" after mobilization in September 2022 decreased, but since the end of 2025 has increased again.
"The number of requests to leave Russia began to grow again and by the end of 2025 - early 2026 formed a noticeable upward trend. Thus, in January 2026, the interest in the query 'leave Russia' rose to 75 points, and the average figure in March, which is not yet over, is 88 points," the report says."
The Kyiv Post noted that due to the Wi-Fi and cell phone outages in Russia, sales of pagers, walkie-talkies, landline phones and even paper cards have increased.
So, according to Russia's largest retailer Wildberries, sales of pagers have increased by 73 percent since the outages began. Purchases of walkie-talkies and landline phones have increased by more than a quarter, while sales of paper maps of the city and printed guides to Moscow have almost tripled.
At the same time, the daily losses of businesses in Moscow from the aforementioned restrictions are estimated at one billion rubles, or $12.5 million, the publication noted.
Although authorities claim the restrictions are aimed at countering attacks by Ukrainian long-range drones using mobile networks and GPS, critics and industry experts suggest the outages may also reflect the government's preparations to limit Russians' access to the global Internet.
It is noted that under new legislation approved by President Vladimir Putin, intelligence agencies can now oblige internet service providers to suspend mobile services at their discretion.
The publication recalled that internet outages have become more frequent across Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"The Top10VPN research group estimated that Russia had the highest number of internet outages in the world in 2025 - a total of more than 37,000 hours, affecting approximately 146 million people," the piece said.
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