A large-scale blocking of VPN services has been implemented in the Russian Federation.
05-08-2026 13:10 Ռուսաստան Press of Diaspora
Azatutyun. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of Russia, known as "Roskomnadzor," has carried out a large-scale blocking of VPN services in the country, resulting in the restriction of IP addresses for more than 20 well-known streaming services. This was reported by the Telegram channels Exploit and Agency.
VPN services are widely used in Russia to bypass internet restrictions in the country.
Users of Amnezia, Paper VPN, and other VPN services have reported technical difficulties. Mikhail Klimarev, director of the "Internet Protection Society," explained that "Roskomnadzor," with the help of Russian IT companies, has identified dozens of autonomous network systems used by services that bypass restrictions and has limited their access.
Leonid Volkov, head of political projects at the Anti-Corruption Foundation, linked this blocking to the upcoming State Duma elections in September.
"Roskomnadzor has been able to quickly accumulate a database of IP addresses used by well-known VPN services. They continued to accumulate them, and then, as the elections approached, began a mass attack," Volkov wrote, adding that the services will be able to launch new addresses, but the attack may be repeated.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities have effectively implemented military censorship in the country, blocking hundreds of websites. Since 2025, Russia has begun to massively disconnect mobile internet and block popular applications like WhatsApp and Telegram.
In addition, authorities have started a crackdown on VPNs, blocking more than 400 services. Officially, Russian authorities state that the use of VPNs is not prohibited, but "Roskomnadzor" aims to block 92% of services used to bypass internet restrictions in Russia by 2030.
* This text was automatically translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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