They are look-through by the government. Part of the family lives outside of Russia, and I don't want to put anyone back in the country into any compromising situations because of any innocent comments someone could make, since all of us are not the fans of the current government, which right now could be a criminal offense.
Thank you for the detailed answer and overview of the different options! To clarify about Signal: in order to confirm a new account, Signal sends an SMS with a code to the registered number. In Russia, you cannot receive those messages since maybe 2 years ago. So all existing users are fine, but the new users can't register an account.
I'm looking for something to have a family chat with, not to run a terrorist organization:)
It's quite risky via official Russian apps that are look-through, but as long as the content of messages and calls is secured, it should be fine even if the channel itself can be identified. As of now, the usage of messaging apps per se is not prosecuted.
However, the problem is that Signal needs phone number registration and sends confirmation via a blocked phone number. When users are registered, it works reliably, but new users in Russia cannot register without a non- Russian phone provider.
They are look-through by the government. Part of the family lives outside of Russia, and I don't want to put anyone back in the country into any compromising situations because of any innocent comments someone could make, since all of us are not the fans of the current government, which right now could be a criminal offense.
So no, I absolutely won't use Russian messengers.