Telegram users in Russia began reporting on the evening of April 16 that the blocked messenger had been working without a VPN for several hours, writing in channel comment sections and group chats, the independent Russian investigative outlet iStories reported. The reason is unknown.
Among those who noted this was Ksenia Boletskaya, Yandex’s director of industry relations, who wrote: “Strange, but Telegram is working for me right now without a VPN — it’s even loading video.”
The Telegram channel Bbbreaking reported, citing its subscribers, that Telegram had started working for them without a proxy or VPN connection.
Telegram was working without a VPN or proxy for 6 percent of users, a Meduza poll showed, while more than 60 percent of respondents said the messenger was working only with a VPN or proxy.
The international research project OONI recorded that on April 16, the messenger was accessible in 11 percent of cases, comparable to figures from the previous four days.
Roskomnadzor blocked Telegram in Russia in March. Before that, the agency had spent several months restricting access to Russia’s most popular messenger. Against that backdrop, the authorities stepped up their crackdown on VPNs.
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