Significant internet disruption in Russia: Hackers or Ukraine involvement suspected

On Tuesday, January 30, hundreds of Russian-language websites became unresponsive. This included the .ru and .рф domains. Essential online platforms like Tinkoff Bank, Avito, Wildberries, and Yandex reported issues. Access problems were reported by international users as well.

The unexpected disruption also affected the Russian news service "Moscow Times," limiting its functionality to its English version. The administrators of the .ru and .рф domains have assured that the technical team is working on the problem and the resolution will be implemented soon.

MegaFon, the telecommunications company, has reported decreased traffic, however, it confirmed that the network remains unaffected. The Beeline operator declared their network was operational, asserting that any outage "falls outside Beeline's area of responsibility".

"Approximately speaking, there are issues with DNSSEC recognition in the national domain zone, leading to disruptions across hundreds of services and websites on RuNet," reported the "Kod Durova" Telegram channel.

The Internet Technical Center and MSK-IX specialists are currently addressing the issue. [...] Restoration work is in progress, according to a statement from the Ministry of Digital Development.

The Russian Ministry of Digital Development reported in an official statement that ".ru websites will be "accessible again shortly." News agency RIA Novosti cited the issue as being associated with the global DNSSEC infrastructure, noting that the disruption with the national domain name system has been settled.

There are also unofficial reports that Ukrainian hackers may have instigated the attack.