Russians are coming up with an increasing number of unconventional ways to communicate as access to Telegram in the country is restricted, mobile internet is shut down in a range of cities, and foreign messaging services are blocked. The Insider counted 10 unexpected solutions.
Cat feeder
On March 24, Alina, a Moscow native living in Bali, posted an Instagram video showing how she called her parents back in Russia through an automatic cat feeder. “Not POV, but real: it’s 2026, everything is blocked, and you’re talking to your parents in Russia through a cat feeder,” she wrote.
Avito
A St. Petersburg resident corresponded with friends through a classified ad on the online marketplace Avito, which is included on the Russian government’s “whitelists” and remains accessible even during internet restrictions. The ad in question was nominally posted by a user who was looking for a new home for a cat. However, the description clarified that the animal already had owners and that the page itself was being used as a chat.
“My friends have a link to this ad. When the internet works only through whitelists, we correspond there — like I’m doing with you now,” the author of the ad told the outlet Rotonda.
After news of the ad spread, Avito removed the cat listing and subjected the woman’s account to a review. The platform’s press service said the ad violated the site’s rules, as it did not contain an offer to sell a real good or service.
The nominal Avito listing offering a cat for adoption — which was in fact being used as a chat
Excel spreadsheets
People in Russia are also known to be communicating via Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. One such spreadsheet was created by the science and technology-themed Telegram channel Concertzaal, with users commenting on the channel’s posts there.
Photos and Notes apps
On March 11, the publication High-Tech Mail published instructions on how to correspond with loved ones through the Photos app on an iPhone using the Shared Albums feature. The comments under uploaded pictures can function as a full-fledged chat: messages arrive with notifications, are sorted by time, and can even be deleted. In a similar way, people can also correspond through an iPhone’s Notes app.
An example of Russian users corresponding through the Shared Albums feature on an iPhone
Gaming apps
There have also been cases of people messaging through gaming apps. Travel blogger Elnar Mansurov, for example, posted an Instagram video titled “How to stay in touch without VPN and Telegram: greetings from 2026.” In it, he explains in detail how to correspond through the Chess app.
Pagers, walkie-talkies and landline phones
Finally, there are the less creative options: pagers, walkie-talkies, and landline phones. In mid-March, Russian media reported that Russians had begun buying these items in large numbers. According to the newspaper Vedomosti, sales of walkie-talkies on the Wildberries online marketplace have risen by 27%, purchases of landline phones are up 25%, and pagers are up 73%.
