Large-Scale DDoS Attack Disrupts Russian Telecom Giant Rostelecom On Monday evening, Russian state-run telecom provider Rostelecom faced a large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, causing widespread disruptions to online services across dozens of cities. The attack overwhelmed systems with junk traffic, temporarily rendering key platforms including Steam, the government portal Gosuslugi, video service Rutube, and multiple banking services unreachable for users. Rostelecom confirmed the incident, stating that emergency filtering measures were implemented to contain the attack, though these actions contributed to service interruptions. Some users reported access was limited to government-approved "whitelist" sites during the disruption. By Tuesday, lingering issues persisted, with internet monitoring services noting ongoing difficulties accessing certain government websites. The attack follows a separate outage last week that crippled banking and payment systems nationwide, leaving customers unable to use cards, withdraw cash, or access mobile banking. The cause of that incident remains disputed, with theories ranging from government IP filtering to an internal failure at Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender. The disruptions occur as Russia continues to tighten control over its domestic internet, advancing its "Runet" initiative a sovereign network designed to operate independently from the global web. The latest incidents highlight vulnerabilities in the country’s digital infrastructure amid ongoing efforts to isolate its online ecosystem.