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Russia is moving toward a China-influenced system of internet control, but it is not simply importing China’s Great Firewall. The Kremlin’s stated direction, described by the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) as “internet autarky,” is a more self-contained online environment in which the state can supervise information and services, restrict tools it cannot monitor, and make online mobilisation harder. Russia’s system is still being built and remains connected to global networks.
What does “Russia’s Great Firewall” mean?
“Great Firewall” is a colloquial Western label for China’s internet censorship architecture, not the name of a single device. The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission used that description in its 2024 report on Chinese censorship. The term is useful for comparing systems, but it can give the misleading impression that Russia has already created an equivalent, unified barrier.
OSW’s 2025 analysis describes Russia’s aim as “internet autarky”: an online ecosystem less dependent on services and infrastructure outside state control. The measures documented by OSW and Human Rights Watch include regulator-directed blocking and throttling, efforts to develop national DNS controls, and pressure on circumvention tools. Together, these measures point toward tighter control, not proof that Russia has sealed itself off from the global internet.
How do Russia’s and China’s systems compare?
| Area | China | Russia |
|---|---|---|
| Network controls | The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2024 account describes traffic inspection, IP and content blocking, and throttling. | OSW (2025) and Human Rights Watch (2025) describe regulator-directed blocking and throttling, alongside development of a national DNS alternative. |
| Domestic services | Blocking global services helped local platforms such as WeChat and Sina Weibo grow within censorship rules. | Authorities are promoting domestic substitutes and state-supervised services; the cited reports do not establish that these have replaced global platforms to the same degree. |
| Circumvention | China targets VPNs and Tor, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (2024). | Russia is also applying pressure to VPNs. Roskomnadzor reported blocking 197 VPN services in 2024, as reported by OSW in 2025. |
| Purpose and user impact | Controls reach beyond individual URLs to shape what users can access and how they communicate. | OSW (2025) describes goals that include controlling resources, blocking tools that cannot be supervised, expanding surveillance, and preventing online mobilisation. |
The broad resemblance is a combination of infrastructure controls, platform rules, and pressure on users. The difference is that Russia’s effort is developing later, amid wartime censorship, and while the country remains dependent on globally connected networks.
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How did Russian-Chinese cooperation develop?
The relationship predates the recent escalation. An Institute for Human Sciences Vienna analysis from 2016 reported that Russian officials consulted Chinese internet-security officials, including Fang Binxing, an architect of China’s Great Firewall, as Russia explored national filtering, data retention, and surveillance. That history shows a longer period of contact and emulation; it does not mean that Russia adopted China’s system wholesale.
What figures show the scale of blocking?
The reported counts illustrate the scale of restrictions, but they are not a direct measure of how much of either country’s internet is inaccessible. The figures come from different sources and methods, so they should not be compared as if they were a single standardized tally.
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- Russia: Roskomnadzor reported 197 VPN services blocked in 2024; OSW cited that figure in 2025.
- China: Freedom House’s China: Freedom on the Net 2024 cited GreatFire.org’s estimate of over 100,000 blocked websites as of February 2024.
- China: The same Freedom House report cited GFWatch as having identified more than 200,000 blocked domains by the end of its coverage period. A domain count and a website estimate are not necessarily equivalent units.
What could change for people using the Russian internet?
The practical effect is not limited to a list of forbidden websites. A service may become slower or unreliable through throttling, disappear through blocking, or be harder to reach through a VPN. A shift toward domestic services may also mean using platforms operating under closer state supervision. The extent and availability of these measures can vary over time and by location; the cited reporting does not establish a fixed nationwide pattern for every service.
OSW’s account connects the crackdown to surveillance and preventing online mobilisation as well as blocking content. That makes the user-level effect broader than access alone: it can raise the risks of communicating, organizing, or seeking information through channels authorities cannot supervise.
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How do independent outlets keep their reporting accessible?
Blocking can be countered, though not permanently defeated, by distributing material through alternative routes. Reporters Without Borders’ 2024 Operation Collateral Freedom documents the use of mirror sites and other delivery methods for independent media in Russia and China. A mirror can offer another route to a blocked publication, but it does not guarantee uninterrupted access if authorities block the new address or interfere with its delivery.
The durability of these alternatives matters because network restrictions change. A publication’s usual address may stop working even when the outlet continues publishing elsewhere.
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Is Russia becoming a closed national network?
Russia is moving toward a more state-controlled and self-contained internet, but the evidence cited here does not establish that it has become fully isolated from global networks. “Great Firewall” is best understood as a comparison of direction and tools: Russia is expanding controls that resemble parts of China’s system, while its path remains shaped by its own infrastructure, wartime policies, and continuing global connectivity.
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