Moscow Goes (Digitally) Dark

With no G.P.S., drivers in Russia’s capital were forced to rely on paper maps. Russia has suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and lost much of its influence in the region. This month, the capital went weeks without Internet By Andrew Ryvkin M oskvichka, a lifestyle publication run by one of the Kremlin’s most notorious propagandists, Kristina Potupchik, just published a review of Ava, a new restaurant overlooking Red Square that serves crab doughnuts, a scallop-and-strawberry salad, and a white-chocolate-and-sour-cream cake wrapped in edible gold. What the magazine failed to mention is that the view from Ava has changed drastically in the last couple of weeks. F.S.O. (Russia’s secret service) officers in full military gear are stationed around the Kremlin. A masked gunman is perched on Lenin’s tomb. First-time diners who have trouble finding the restaurant will have to ask directions from READ ON