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Russia blocks nearly 200 VPN services while spending billions purchasing VPNs for government use

Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked 197 virtual private network (VPN) services, state-affiliated news agency Interfax reported on Thursday, at the same time as spending on VPN connections for government use reached 14.1 billion rubles (€134 million) in the first nine months of the year, according to Russian business daily Kommersant.

NewsSociety Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked 197 virtual private network (VPN) services, state-affiliated news agency Interfax reported on Thursday, at the same time as spending on VPN connections for government use reached 14.1 billion rubles (€134 million) in the first nine months of the year, according to Russian business daily Kommersant. Sergey Khutortsev, a Roskomnadzor official, said on Thursday that the Russian authorities only banned VPN services “used as a means of bypassing blocking”. The crackdown on VPNs forms part of a growing trend of online censorship in Russia that has intensified since the start of the Ukraine war.

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