Roskomnadzor, Russia's authority for the surveillance and surveillance of communications, information technology and the mass media, announced on Friday that Instagram would be shut down until Monday night.
On Monday, several media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and The Verge, confirmed that Instagram had been shut down in the country.
The closure follows in the footsteps of Russia demanding that the company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, ban and delete posts expressing hatred or threats of violence against the Russian government or military, something the company has not done.
"An extremist organization"
Russian authorities have called the tech giant an "extremist organization" and in a statement they write that Meta's statement is a violation of international law.
"We must be able to guarantee the mental health of citizens, especially children and young people, and protect them from online harassment and abuse," the authorities wrote.
In the email, Roskomnadzor urged the country's Instagram users to delete their photos and videos before shutting down the platform, and advised them to use Russia's own "competing platforms" instead.
"Affects 80 million users"
Meta has previously said that the closure of Instagram will affect around 80 million users in Russia.
A couple of weeks ago, Facebook was also banned in the country.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, has said in a video that the closure of Instagram will have major consequences for many people.
"The situation is frightening, and we do everything we can to make people feel safe," he says.