Russia, Blocked From the Global Internet, Plunges Into Digital Isolation

Russian authorities and multinational companies have erected a digital barricade between the country and the West, erasing the last remnants of independent information online.

Even as President Vladimir V. Putin tightened his grip on Russian society over the past 22 years, small pockets of independent information and political expression remained online.

Any remnants of that are now gone.

As Mr. Putin has waged war on Ukraine, a digital barricade went up between Russia and the world. Both Russian authorities and multinational internet companies built the wall with breathtaking speed. And the moves have ruptured an open internet that was once seen as helping to integrate Russia into the global community.