Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development plans to increase the throughput capacity of its Technical Means for Countering Threats (TSPU) by 2.5 times, to 954 Tbps by 2030, Kommersant reports, citing an official order outlining the ministry’s activity plan.
TSPU systems are installed on the networks of all telecom operators. They filter internet traffic, block resources, and “slow down” access to websites and services. The equipment and software are maintained by services controlled by Roskomnadzor.
The capacity of TSPU nodes is not the same across the network, and when some of them fail to cope with traffic volumes, bypass mode is used, allowing traffic to pass directly without filtering. According to one of the publication’s sources, this is what happened on the night of March 22–23, when many blocked resources suddenly became accessible in Russia: the system could not handle the increased traffic volume after new filtering rules were introduced.
Last week, Forbes, citing sources, reported that Roskomnadzor had stopped coping with blocking prohibited resources because its technical systems were overloaded. The agency denied this.
Daniil Shcherbakov, deputy CEO of Servicepipe, told Kommersant that 954 Tbps is “a very large figure.” For comparison, he said, citing data from the Ministry of Digital Development, that in 2024 the average traffic passing through Russian networks was about 30 Tbps. According to him, increasing TSPU capacity to 954 Tbps may mean that by 2030 “there will be more TSPU systems and broader coverage.”
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of resources have been blocked in Russia, including major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X. More recently, there have been reports of restrictions affecting the Telegram messenger, which, according to a number of reports, may also soon be blocked.
