Russia’s Internet crackdown is drawing criticism from state-sanctioned ‘opposition’ parties. It’s all part of Kremlin-approved campaign messaging.

In early March, as large-scale mobile Internet disruptions began in Moscow, the 6th congress of the New People political party was taking place in St. Petersburg. At the event, Alexander Kharichev — the Kremlin’s chief of “social monitoring” and a longtime associate of domestic policy czar Sergey Kiriyenko — took the stage to read out a message from Vladimir Putin.