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Ten VPN services told reporters that restrictions had tightened during the week after Russia’s State Duma elections, according to Meduza’s September 29, 2026 account of reporting by Verstka. The reports document worsening service disruptions, but do not show that the election caused them or measure how much VPN access remained available nationwide.
What happened to VPNs after the elections?
The ten services cited by Verstka were not named; Meduza said they were withheld for security reasons. Their reports describe different experiences, not a complete independent count of affected providers or users.
- One of the largest and best-known services emailed users on September 25 that blocking had intensified since the start of that week and peaked that day, disrupting access for many users.
- Another service said its latest restrictions began September 21 and that it replaced eight servers in five days.
- Two services said Roskomnadzor had blocked all their international server locations and the IP addresses of all their servers.
These incidents point to serious disruption for some providers, but they do not establish that every VPN service—or every Russian user—was affected in the same way.
Did the elections cause the latest blocking?
The timing is clear; causation is not. Alexey Kozlyuk, chairman of the VPN Guild, told Meduza on September 29 that pressure had been mounting since early August: “We see what’s happening now as a continuation and gradual intensification of that campaign.” He described the post-election restrictions as an expected continuation rather than a fundamentally new wave, and said some services had not seen increased pressure.
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So, the strongest supported account is that restrictions tightened for several services in the week after the elections within a campaign already underway. The cited reporting does not establish an election-related order or show that the vote triggered the restrictions.
How does this fit into Russia’s wider campaign against VPNs?
Human Rights Watch’s September 24, 2026 account describes pressure on circumvention tools through service blocking, app removals, and efforts to identify VPN use. Reports also describe a shift toward blocking broad ranges of network infrastructure, which can affect more than a single server address.
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| When | Reported measure or incident | What the evidence establishes |
|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | The Ministry of Digital Development instructed more than 20 major internet companies to gather information about clients’ VPN use and deny access to services when they detected VPN connections, according to Human Rights Watch. | This is HRW’s account of government instructions; it is not a measurement of how consistently companies implemented them. |
| April 2026 | RKS Global analyzed 30 popular Russian apps using static APK analysis. | It found that 22 detected VPN use and confirmed that 19 sent VPN status to a server. These results apply to the 30-app sample, not all Russian apps. |
| June 2026 | In HRW’s account of a developer’s statement about the Amnezia incident, authorities used bulk IP-address blocking, targeted phishing emails aimed at employees, and DDoS attacks that overwhelmed the service. | HRW said full restoration took one and a half months. These are claims attributed to the developer, not independent findings about every provider. |
| August 4, 2026 | Exploit reported that 20 VPN providers in Russia faced service disruptions, as cited by HRW. | This is a reported count of affected providers, not a nationwide availability estimate. |
| Week after the State Duma elections, September 2026 | Ten services reported tighter restrictions, in Verstka’s reporting as relayed by Meduza. | The providers were unnamed and the accounts do not amount to a market-wide or traffic-wide measurement. |
One provider told HRW that recent blocking targeted large IP ranges, including entire subnets allocated by hosting companies. The provider said recovering from this broad blocking takes more time and money than recovering from earlier, more granular blocking. That helps explain why replacing a few server addresses may not be enough when an entire range is affected.
What legal basis has the Russian government cited?
In an April 27, 2026 letter, the Ministry of Digital Development said Roskomnadzor may restrict access to VPN services that do not meet legal requirements under the centralized management of public communications networks. The ministry cited Article 65.1 of the Communications Law and rules approved by Government Resolution No. 1667. This is the ministry’s stated legal position, not an independent judgment that the restrictions comply with human-rights law.
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The same letter said parameters for possible additional charges on international traffic were still being developed at that time. It does not establish that such a charge had taken effect.
Why does VPN blocking matter beyond connection failures?
VPNs can be used to protect privacy and access information, but pressure to switch providers can also create security risks. Human Rights Watch warns that users might choose a service that stores data without consent or shares it with Russian authorities. It says services that do not collect client logs or transfer data to authorities can help protect communications, but that does not verify the practices or current availability of any particular provider.
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App-store removals add another constraint. Human Rights Watch reported from Apple transparency data that Apple removed 1,213 applications in response to Russian government requests in 2025; 468 of those were categorized as “utility” apps, a category that includes VPNs. The 468 figure is a subset of the 1,213 total, not an additional count. HRW also lists VPN apps removed from Apple’s Russian App Store in March 2026.
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Apple told HRW in a July 2026 response that it was required to follow laws where it operates and that failing to comply with lawful orders could result in Apple no longer being able to operate the App Store or distribute content in Russia. That describes Apple’s explanation for its actions; it does not resolve the consequences for users seeking a particular app.
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Which VPNs still work in Russia?
The cited reports do not establish which VPNs currently work, and they do not test services across Russian networks or locations. Availability can vary by provider, server, network, and time; the reports of disrupted services are not a reliable basis for recommending a replacement or promising that a specific one will connect.
If evaluating a service, look for clear information about data collection, logging, sharing with authorities, and transparency. Treat any claim of current access as specific to the network and time at which it was verified. A service’s ability to connect is separate from whether its privacy practices are trustworthy.
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