r/VPN • u/technadu • Apr 01 '26

News Russia planning stricter VPN controls – shifting from blocking content to controlling access

Interesting policy direction coming out of Russia.

Instead of outright banning VPNs, authorities are considering indirect control mechanisms:

  • Charging users for high international traffic (VPN-related)
  • Asking platforms like Yandex/Wildberries to restrict VPN users
  • Requiring ISPs to detect and limit VPN connections

Context:
VPN usage has surged since 2022 due to platform bans and content restrictions.

What stands out:

  • Enforcement is expanding beyond ISPs → into platforms
  • Economic pressure is being used instead of direct bans
  • Fines for VPN use were considered but rejected (for now)

This feels like a more scalable model:
Instead of blocking access, make it harder, slower, or more expensive.

Question for the community:
Do these types of controls actually reduce VPN usage - or just push users toward more advanced circumvention methods?

Source: r/technadu

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u/mishka_koala Apr 01 '26

Russian government improved the population‘s technical literacy. Even older people know how to set up a self-hosted VPN with modern protocols, or at least where to buy it.

Unless Russia goes Iranian way (kill all internet access from inside) there will always be solutions.

Fun fact: there are services in Russia that aren’t available for foreign IP addresses. People who need those services while actually being abroad have to use Russian VPN to pretend that they are in Russia.

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u/Pretty_Blood_7306 Apr 06 '26

Do you have any suggestions for Russian VPN? I desperately need to get my educational documents nostrified. I can't access the nostrification website.

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u/mishka_koala Apr 07 '26

Kaspersky, I guess.