I don't think this is such an effective control if you mean controlling the population. Usually when countries shut down the Internet it's to prevent protestors

I don't think this is such an effective control if you mean controlling the population. Usually when countries shut down the Internet it's to prevent protestors from organizing rather than disconnecting them from the outside world. This doesn't give them additional leverage considering the Russian government's current power. This is actually most useful for security. At least if you are attacked your national network will survive.