Russia has been blocking Telegram for months. Meduza asked five popular channel admins if it’s working.

Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, has been blocking Telegram for several months.

The app remains accessible via VPN and proxy servers, but users have been abandoning it regardless — the restrictions have made the messaging service too cumbersome for everyday use.

According to the news outlet Agentstvo, a fresh round of “throttling” in late April and early May caused Russian Telegram channels to lose roughly half their audiences.

Meduza spoke with the operators of three channels that focus on news and politics and two that report on popular entertainment to find out how they are managing. ...