Over the past decade, the Russian government has made several attempts to increase its control over the domestic internet. Here are some of the most important events affecting the country’s online freedoms:
1. Blocking Websites and Social Media
Since 2022, Russia has dramatically escalated its internet restrictions, blocking thousands of websites and apps including Facebook, X, Instagram, BBC News, and Quora.
In February 2026, it went further, fully blocking YouTube and WhatsApp and restricting Telegram to push users toward Max, a state-backed messaging app.
In response, Russian citizens have turned to VPNs in large numbers. Proton VPN alone recorded a 9,000% rise in signups from Russia on March 24, 2022, and an estimated 40% of Russians now use a VPN.
Proton VPN recorded a 9,000% rise in Russian signups on March 24, 2022.
2. Blocking VPNs and Entire Protocols
In retaliation to rising VPN usage, the Russian government began restricting VPN services in late 2021. Since then, nearly 470 VPNs have been blocked or restricted for not complying with Russian law, including popular services like NordVPN and Proton VPN.
Russia’s approach has since escalated well beyond blocking individual VPN services by IP address. Roskomnadzor aims to restrict VPNs with 92% effectiveness by 2030, and Russia’s draft budget roughly doubles funding for its filtering system to nearly 20 billion RUB (about $250 million) in 2027.
OpenVPN, WireGuard, and standard TLS-based proxies are blocked at the ISP infrastructure level nationwide, and since December 2025 the filters have also targeted VLESS, SOCKS5, and L2TP.
Roskomnadzor uses active probing to confirm suspected VPN servers. Once your connection is flagged by DPI, the system sends test traffic to your server, and if it responds like a VPN, the server is quickly blocked. This is why many users find a VPN works at first, then suddenly stops.
This means that even a VPN service not on Roskomnadzor’s blocklist will fail if it relies on standard protocols. Protocol choice is now the single most important factor in whether a VPN works in Russia.
This is why I recommend Astrill, whose StealthVPN protocol uses QUIC/UDP-based obfuscation designed to evade protocol-level detection, not just IP-address blocks.
Roskomnadzor has added another tactic: blocking VPNs at the infrastructure level. Since August 2026, it has been blocking entire IP subnets belonging to hosting companies that VPN services rent servers from, taking out dozens of services.
The government has also told Russia’s biggest apps and websites to detect and refuse VPN users, and pressured Apple and Google to remove VPN apps from their Russian app stores.
Blocks like these can take down a VPN regardless of which protocol it uses, which is another reason I recommend installing two VPNs before you travel to Russia.
3. The Yarovaya Law
Russia’s Yarovaya Law requires all telecom companies and ISPs to store detailed user communication records for six months, and all connection metadata for three years.
This gives the government on-demand access to records of everything you do online.
Promoting “extremism” online is punishable by up to five years in prison. The definition of “extremism” under this law is broad enough to include modest protests and criticism of government policy.
4. Russia’s Sovereign Internet
Russia has been taking steps toward creating a domestic alternative to the global internet. The Sovereign Internet law gives the state the legal authority to disconnect Russia from the worldwide web entirely in the event of an undefined “emergency.”
In January 2024, the state-endorsed Ruwiki (Russia’s own version of Wikipedia) was fully launched. It was created by copying every Wikipedia article, then removing or rewriting any content that contradicted the Kremlin’s positions.
Together, these measures reflect a long-term strategy to bring Russia’s internet under full state control: blocking foreign content, surveilling domestic communications, neutralizing circumvention tools, and building the infrastructure needed to operate independently of the global web entirely.
