Russia to invest over half a billion US dollars in its battle against VPN usage
The current system lacks the power to effectively block VPN apps
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Russia wants to boost its censorship infrastructure and plans to spend almost 60 billion rubles (around $650 million) over the next five years to update its internet-blocking system.
This is the strategy outlined in the federal project ‘Cybersecurity Infrastructure’ asreported by Forbes. The Russian censor body, Roskomnadzor, aims to build a more effective filtering system for blockingVPN servicesin particular.
The Kremlin has long been battling against VPN usage across the country. That’s because a VPN (virtual private network) is security software that encrypts internet connections and spoofs user IP addresses, granting access to otherwise geo-restricted content – exactly what Russian authorities seek to prevent.
The end of VPN usage in Russia?
For the likes of Russia, China, Myanmar, and Iran – countries infamous for imposing strict restrictions on the internet – VPN usage has been a longstanding target. Over time, this has created an endless cat-and-mouse game between authorities and VPN providers to find a way to eludeVPN censorship.
Technologies likeVPN obfuscationandIP rotationare particularly useful at bypassing these blocks, with companies likeProton VPNcontinuing to invest in new anti-censorship tools. Now, the Kremlin appears ready to invest big money into reversing this trend.
“Russian authorities seem to be attempting to implement the Iranian model of internet censorship (even though we previously expected the Chinese model), which involves categorizing IP addresses into white, grey, and blacklists,” Stanislav Shakirov, CTO of Russian digital rights group Roskomsvoboda and founder of Privacy Accelerator, told me. “However, they have not yet been able to achieve this with the current infrastructure.”
Currently, Russia’s technical approach to countering threats (TSPU in Russian) filters all Internet traffic to block or slow down certain resources. Yet, as Shakirov explained, the implementation of DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) has technical limitations. For instance, “it lacks sufficient computational power to block VPN protocols and throttle YouTube simultaneously,” said Shakirov.
This is where the new strategy comes in. Between 2025 and 2030, Roskomnadzor plans to both modernize the current TSPU and install new ones. Censors expect this will increase the efficiency of VPN blocking by 96%.
In response to the censorship Russians are adopting VPN really fast. The government is blocking at least 42 providers, but smaller services and decentralised protocols are still available pic.twitter.com/EabxUDHUPnMay 16, 2023
Since 2019, all Russian telecom operators have been required by law to install TSPU software to allow Roskomnadzor censors to filter out unwanted online resources. The grip on the RuNet (Russian internet) became even stricter following the invasion of Ukraine. More than 100,000 resources were blocked in 2022 alone compared to around 7,000 during the previous year.
As censorship levels went up,VPN usage in Russiahas been skyrocketing as well. Authorities then intensified the VPN crackdownthat started back in 2017. The most recent move includes forcing Apple toremove at least 29 VPN appsfrom its local App Store. Plus,a law enforced in Marchnow criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions.
Asdata from the DPIDetector projectsuggests, major VPN providers are currently blocked by IP addresses and service domains – something that can be bypassed with an IP rotation feature.
Shakirov explained that, over the past year, authorities have also targeted VPN apps at a protocol level.WireGuard, for instance, is now blocked by mobile operators and, since August, on home internet connections.OpenVPNhas also become challenging to use, but the blocking remains inconsistent. Plus, VPN software using more sophisticated anti-censorship technologies like Roskomsvoboda-developedAmnezia VPNcontinues to work well in Russia.
He said: “It is clear that the current technical resources are insufficient to block even a basic VPN protocol like OpenVPN, let alone more complex technologies. This is why these equipment purchases are a necessary step for Roskomnadzor, although we cannot say if they will be enough.”
Chiara is a multimedia journalist committed to covering stories to help promote the rights and denounce the abuses of the digital side of life—wherever cybersecurity, markets and politics tangle up.She mainly writes news, interviews and analysis on data privacy, online censorship, digital rights, cybercrime, and security software, with a special focus on VPNs, for TechRadar Pro, TechRadar and Tom’s Guide. Got a story, tip-off or something tech-interesting to say? Reach out to chiara.castro@futurenet.com
Mozambique VPN usage soars as internet restrictions continue
Retail and tech firms are hackers' most wanted targets – here’s what you can do about it
How to watch Gold Rush season 15 online: live stream new episodes with a free trial
