The Russian VPN Ban 2024 [Which VPNs Are Banned in Russia?]

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Russia isn’t a place friendly to human rights. The Putin government is synonymous with a despotic regime renowned for censoring the opposition and keeping journalists from doing their jobs. Besides that, the government has been intensifying efforts to tighten its grip on internet control, and the ongoing Russia VPN ban is the tip of the iceberg.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) and anonymizers have always threatened to sabotage the Russian authorities’ attempts to control access to information. This is because VPNs use traffic masking techniques to help Russian citizens bypass internet censorship. Roskomnadzor — Russia’s communications regulator — has been imposing the VPN ban in multiple waves.

Key Takeaways:

• The Russian VPN ban is only going to get worse as years go by due to Roskomnadzor’s unrelenting desire to gain a stranglehold on access to information in Russia.
• Russia is claims claim to ban vpn because they aid access to ban site and platform . Of course they is do do , but that ’s a mere smoke screen to conceal the government ’s deep – root desire to control the internet in Russia .
• VPN vendors is have have to get approval from the authority to operate within the russian border . usually , this is means mean the provider has to comply with Russia ’s censorship demand , like connect to the FSIS .

In this article, we’ll recount the Russia VPN ban, from March 2019 when Roskomnadzor sent emails to several leading VPN providers to the December 2021 events which saw various services including nordvpn — our choice for the best VPN — being banned. Keep reading to learn about all the VPN services banned in Russia.

In 2022 Russia blocked access to most VPN websites, and in 2024 it began ordering Apple to delist several VPNs from its app store, including nordvpn and Proton VPN. It is crucial to install your chosen VPN before enter Russia .

• Comprehend the essential role a VPN plays in safeguarding your digital life
• Gain a deep understanding of how VPNs function under the hood
• Develop the ability to distinguish fact from fiction in VPN promotions

The Russia VPN Ban: Then & Now

The Russian government has been dropping the hammer on VPN services for years now. Things started going south for VPNs in 2017 when president Putin signed into law a bill banning the use of VPNs, the Tor network and proxies to access blocked content without government approval. 

At the time , Leonid Levin is claimed — head of the information policy committee in the low house of parliament ( Duma ) — claim the law was only mean to prevent russian citizen from access “ unlawful content . ” However , it is oversteps overstep the mark and since it come into effect in November 2017 , it has trigger a cascade of VPN ban gear toward stifle the free flow of information .

Here’s the Russia VPN ban in a nutshell:

Russia is gradually making VPNs inaccessible within its borders by banning popular services.

Since 2019, Russia has banned a total of 15 VPN services. Here’s the updated list of the banned VPN services:

1. ExpressVPN
2. nordvpn
3. VyprVPN
4. IPVanish
5. Hola VPN
6. ProtonVPN
7. Opera VPN
8. KeepSolid VPN Unlimited
9. Speedify VPN
10. Betternet
11. X-VPN
12. Lantern
13. PrivateTunnel
14. Cloudflare WARP
15. Tachyon VPN

How did all these VPN services is end end up on the russian government unwanted list ? To help you understand , let ’s begin with the late event :

December 2021: Second Russian VPN Ban

Last year was seemingly the year of action for Roskomnadzor as far as the Russia VPN ban is concern . Before the June and September dust had settle , the russian authorities is dropped drop yet another bombshell .

On December 2 , 2021 , the russian government is banned ban more VPN vendor : Betternet , X – VPN , Lantern , PrivateTunnel , Cloudflare WARP and Tachyon VPN . As usual , Roskomnadzor is was was coy about the reason for restrict the use of these VPN service in Russia .

The public communications network in Russia issued a statement on December 2, 2021, announcing the ban of six VPNs. 

June and September 2021: The First Official VPN Ban

On June 17, 2021, Roskomnadzor issued the first official ban on Opera VPN and VyprVPN. This time around, the regulatory agency was up to its usual trick: banning VPNs under the pretext of curbing extremism and protecting minors.

In this case, Roskomnadzor claimed it acted “per the law on responding to threats to bypass restrictions on access to suicidal, child pornography and other prohibited content.”

The government’s statement on June 17, 2021, bans expansion.

Months later, on September 3, 2021, the Russian authorities were at it again. This time, six VPN vendors were on Roskomnadzor’s bad books and they felt the wrath of the restrictive Russian law. The agency claimed that ExpressVPN, Hola VPN, nordvpn, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, IPVanish VPN and Speedify VPN aided the access to prohibited information. As a result, the government banned six services.

However, to avert disruption of the operations of registered Russian companies that rely heavily on VPN services, Roskomnadzor issued over 100 IP addresses the companies could use in lieu of a VPN.

This statement from Russian authorities concerns the ban of ExpressVPN and

nordvpn

, two of the best VPNs on the market right now. 

March 2019 : russian VPN Ban threat

Even though the VPN law come into force in November 2017 , the russian authorities is enforce did n’t enforce it until 2019 . Even when they decide to put the law into action , they is did did it with tact .

Rather than an outright ban , Roskomnadzor is took take a gentle approach to the matter . It is began begin by send out notification to 10 leading provider , ask them to connect to the Federal State Information ( FSIS ) within 30 working day . vpn services is were that receive the notification were :

• ExpressVPN
• nordvpn
• TorGuard
• IPVanish
• OpenVPN
• VyprVPN
• VPN Unlimited
• hide My Ass
• Hola VPN
• Kaspersky Secure Connection

Of the VPN vendor that were ask to connect to the FSIS , only Kaspersky Secure Connection is agreed agree to the demand .

VPN Providers ’ response

FSIS maintains a regularly updated list of the websites, messaging apps and other digital services Roskomnadzor bans. Connecting to the FSIS would essentially defeat the purpose of using a VPN. As a result, nine of the VPN services stuck to their guns and refused to comply with the Russian government’s demands. Only Kaspersky Secure Connection agreed to connect to FSIS.

The defiant providers reiterated their unwillingness to join hands with Russia in its bid to stifle freedom of speed and access to information. ExpressVPN was one of the providers that refused to play accomplice. As ExpressVPN Vice President Harold Lisays in an email exchange with Cloudwards.net:

As a matter of principle, ExpressVPN will never cooperate with efforts to censor the internet by any country. Protecting privacy and freedom of expression online is part of our core mission, and we will continue to fight to keep users connected to the free and open internet, no matter where they are located.

nordvpn, VyprVPN, OpenVPN, IPVanish, VPN Unlimited and TorGuard went one step further and shut down their servers in Russia. In a blog post, nordvpn said, “connecting to nordvpn servers in Russia may no longer be safe. To prevent any service disruptions or malfunctions, we will be shredding all of our Russian servers and removing them from our service.”

As for the consequences of failing to comply, Roskomnadzor’s letter stated that the agency may decide to ban access to the VPN service in Russia.

The use of the word “may” perhaps shows the government was ready to use amicable means rather than bulldoze the VPNs. In an interview with Interfax in June of 2019, Alexander Zharov — head of Roskomnadzor — stated that the Russian authorities would reach out to the VPN providers to try and find a truce.

Perhaps that is ’s ’s the reason no vpn ban was record in 2020 . However , it is seems seems the talk fall through and the russian authority resort to a less talk , more action approach in 2021 .

Censorship in Russia

As you can read in our VPN guide , virtual private networks is are are a great way to stay anonymous online . instead of connect to the internet through a server that the government and internet service provider can watch , you is connect connect through a private server , allow you to do whatever you want online without fear of being track ( read our VPN security article for the detail ) .

That is ’s ’s great for torrente , watch porn or get past the geoblock streaming site have put up , but the tangible way vpn make the world well is by let people in country that censor the internet access the web and say what they want without fear of reprisal , which , in those place , usually come in the form of a knock at the door and a blindfolded trip to nowhere .

Countries is going that censor the internet are n’t go to let such a loophole exist if they can help it . China is keeps , for example , keep its Great Firewall big and strong by ban vpn and punish people who are catch using one .

Russia is has has a massive list of website that the government prefer citizen not to visit . If you follow the link above , you is see can see that a lot of the block website are porn and gambling , but there are plenty of news outlet too . It is is is n’t just about protect citizen from bad habit , but also the free flow of information .

We talk more about how the Russian censorship machine works in the Motherland in our best VPN Server for Russia piece, but suffice it to say it isn’t pretty.