Take Control Of Kherson, Russia Takes Over The Internet And Enforces The Ruble

JAKARTA - According to internet service outage monitor NetBlocks, Monday, May 2, Russia has diverted internet traffic in the Kherson region, Ukraine, through Russia's communications infrastructure.

The move appears to be aimed at tightening Moscow's grip on territory it claims they have taken complete control of. Russian-appointed authorities in parts of Kherson said the region would start using the Russian ruble on May 1.

London-based NetBlocks said it had tracked a near-total internet outage across the Kherson region on Saturday, May 30, affecting various service providers in Ukraine. The connection was restored after a few hours, but various metrics show internet traffic now through Russia.

"Connectivity on the network has been routed via the Russian internet instead of the Ukrainian telecommunications infrastructure and so it is likely that they are now subject to Russian internet regulation, surveillance, and censorship", NetBlocks said on its website.

The UK Ministry of Defense said on Sunday, May 1, that Russia's moves in the region "are likely to indicate Russia's intention to exert strong political and economic influence in Kherson in the long term".

It pointed to statements about the use of the ruble and the rejection of the region's possible return to Ukrainian control.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of Russia's "civil-military regional administration" in Kherson, told Russia's RIA news agency on Thursday, April 28, that a four-month window during which the Ukrainian hryvnia and Russian ruble both circulated would begin on May 1.

Ukraine admits it has lost control of large parts of Kherson, including the regional capital, but says its armed forces have defeated Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops to reach the provincial borders.