In 2025, the list of issues causing the greatest anxiety among Russians changed markedly. While drone attacks and sabotage had dominated the previous two years, the leading concern in the first quarter became phone and financial fraud. According to a KROS study, interest in the topic increased fivefold over the year, while Kaspersky Who Calls reported that 43% of Russians encountered scammers in January through March. During the same period, citizens lost 7 billion rubles.
The second-largest concern at the start of the year was the aftermath of the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea following the wreck of two Volgoneft-class tankers near Anapa shortly before last New Year. The disaster threatened the tourist season, forced beach closures, and left volunteers to do much of the work of saving affected animals. Researchers said traditional media covered the issue 2.5 times less than social networks did.
Drone attacks, already a familiar subject, ranked third, while one of the most striking new stories was the death of rapper Pasha Tekhnik. After he was hospitalized in Thailand in late March and later died, public interest surged: his April 11 funeral turned into a march involving thousands, and Yandex logged more than 10 million searches in April alone. In the study’s “persistence index,” this topic ranked first.
In the second quarter, researchers identified economic “overcooling”, the situation around migrants, and the side effects of anti-fraud measures, including account freezes and tighter transfer controls, among the main sources of anxiety. By summer and autumn, everyday disruptions moved to the foreground: mobile internet shutdowns, service outages, rising taxi prices, and infestations of mosquitoes and Spanish slugs.
In the third quarter, internet shutdowns became the key concern. According to KROS, the media discussed mobile internet blocking 4.5 times less often than social media users did. Additional alarm was caused by talk of a “whitelist” of sites that would remain accessible, restrictions on calls in WhatsApp and Telegram, and the promotion of the MAX messenger, which users feared could become a mandatory gateway to digital services.
Other notable themes of the year included alcohol sales restrictions in several regions, tensions linked to the detention of Azerbaijanis in Russia and Russian citizens in Azerbaijan, fuel shortages, flight delays, and renewed concern about risks tied to artificial intelligence. The study’s authors conclude that Russians are increasingly troubled not only by war and security issues, but also by everyday breakdowns they feel unable to control.