Russia’s Digital Development Ministry has asked the country’s largest online platforms to block access for users with active VPNs by April 15, sources told the Russian business outlet RBC.
Ministry head Maksut Shadaev delivered the demand at a private meeting with representatives from more than 20 companies on March 30, according to sources close to those companies. One source said April 15 is “not a D-Day, but more of a target date.”
Under the plan, companies would receive a specific list of VPN IP addresses previously identified by Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal censorship agency, to use for blocking. Participants in the meeting were also given a manual describing how to independently detect and block VPNs, including those Roskomnadzor has not yet identified or restricted.
Platforms would be required to share information about newly detected VPNs with the regulator so it can add them to a master blocking list covering all services. “Essentially, this is a fight against VPNs using the platforms’ own resources and their advanced technical tools,” one of RBC’s sources said.
Companies that fail to comply could lose their IT tax benefits and be removed from the “white list” of websites permitted to operate in Russia, another source said. The Russian business daily Kommersant previously reported the same threat.
The restrictions would not apply to users with corporate VPNs that are not being used to access sites banned in Russia, RBC reported. There is currently no reliable technical method to distinguish permitted corporate VPN traffic from other VPN traffic, a source said, adding that the Digital Development Ministry has promised to provide “white and black lists of VPNs.”
Another source said the goal is for all platform functionality to stop working when a VPN is active and for users to receive a corresponding notification. The ministry itself would be responsible for verifying compliance.
A government decree expected by April 15 would serve as the legal basis for checking whether Russian services are accessible via VPN, a media industry source said.
In late March, reports emerged that the Digital Development Ministry had begun actively looking for ways to crack down on VPN services that Russians use to circumvent internet restrictions.
By April 1, authorities had banned users from topping up their Apple Account balance via mobile phone billing, in an effort to disrupt VPN payments. The ministry also asked mobile operators to introduce charges for international data consumption exceeding 15 gigabytes per month, with the measure to take effect before May.
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