Roskomnadzor Plans to Block Six More VPN Services
A rather unusual announcement appeared on the Roskomnadzor website titled “Attention to Companies Using VPN Services.” Many interpreted this post as a signal of the imminent blocking of the following services: Hola!VPN, ExpressVPN, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, Nord VPN, Speedify VPN, and IPVanish VPN.
“In accordance with the response regulations, we inform you about the planned introduction of centralized management regarding tools used to bypass restrictions on information prohibited by law. A request has been sent to agencies asking them to inform the Center for Monitoring the Management of Public Communication Networks (CMU SSOP) about the use of VPN services (Hola!VPN, ExpressVPN, KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, Nord VPN, Speedify VPN, IPVanish VPN) to support the technological processes of enterprises and organizations,” Roskomnadzor stated.
It is still unclear which specific agencies are being referred to. Mikhail Klimarev, head of the “Internet Protection Society,” wrote in his Telegram channel:
“The question is: are you using the listed VPN services for work? That is, some agencies might be using public VPN services from the list for their operations. Am I right in understanding that Russian agencies can indeed use VPNs to bypass blocks? (Otherwise, what’s the point?)”
As a reminder, in mid-June 2021, VyprVPN and Opera VPN were already blocked in Russia “in accordance with the response regulations to threats of bypassing restrictions on access to child pornography, suicide-related, pro-drug, and other prohibited content.”
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