Yesterday, the Telegram administration shut down the channel of the Ingushetia Independence Committee (IIC), which caused outrage among activists and observers. This closure was the culmination of a campaign of discrediting the KIIC, which was actively promoted by Kremlin propagandists. Such actions on the part of Telegram are a reminder of the platform’s close ties to Russian special services and its involvement in the suppression of national movements.
The closure of the KIN channel coincided with the escalation of events in Dagestan, where the situation is spiraling out of control. Armed clashes between the local underground and the Russian occupiers in Ingushetia are becoming more frequent, and the latest events in Dagestan only emphasize the scale of the problem. The Kremlin is already forced to refuse to take prisoners and bodies of dead Dagestanis from Ukraine in order not to provoke the local population’s indignation.
This is not the first time Telegram has cooperated with Russian special services. In the fall of 2023, during the protests in Dagestan, the Morning of Dagestan channel was closed, and in the winter, during mass protests in Bashkortostan, a number of channels of the Bashkir national liberation movement were closed. These actions demonstrate the systematic support of the Kremlin’s platform of interests and the suppression of independent voices.
The Ingush Independence Committee promptly created a new channel, addressing its subscribers with the following message:
In the name of Allah, the most gracious and merciful! Assalamu alaykum waroohmatullahi wabarakatuhu! Our previous channel was deleted by Telegram for reasons unknown to us (possibly at the request of the Russian special services). Please subscribe to the new one: https://t.me/ingcommitte/4. We will continue our work as usual. The removal of the channel will not affect our activities in any way, but rather indicates the correctness and effectiveness of our work. Allahu gho dolda wa ta’ala!
This situation has only strengthened their resolve to continue the struggle for independence and the rights of their people, despite the repression and pressure from the Russian special services.
Another example of Telegram’s cooperation with the Kremlin was the manipulation around the terrorist attack in Crocus City. The Cheka-OGPU channel published a fake post about the search for residents of Ingushetia, which was later deleted. However, an analysis of the TGStat data showed that this post was not even among the deleted ones, which may indicate that Telegram was involved in special operations by Russian special services.
These facts only confirm that Telegram is actively used by the Kremlin to control and manipulate the information space. This is yet another proof that Telegram is not an independent service, but a tool of repression and censorship that always comes to the aid of Russian special services in suppressing national movements and protests.