Russia Will Start Banning Major VPN Services

Travelers to Russia might want to take note. The country may soon begin to block some major VPN services after they refused to link up with a national blacklist which would prevent their users from accessing the blacklisted websites even when using the VPN service. It’s expected that the ban on these VPNs could be enforced within a month.

The oversight head for telecoms in Russia Alexander Zharov confirmed to Interfax that nine major VPN services, which include the likes of NordVPN and ExpressVPN, will be blocked after they refused to adhere to a national blacklist. Russia had asked ten VPN providers to use the blacklist and only one, Kaspersky, agreed to it. Kaspersky is based in Russia so it may not have had an option to refuse.

The other providers didn’t just refuse the demand but also said that they would resist this move. The services that refused interfacing with the blacklist include VyprVPN, TorGuard, IPVanish, OpenVPN, Hola VPN, and a few others. They were given 30 days to respond and most of them chose not to.

Some also wrote on their websites that they will not comply with the demand. Roscomnadzor, Russia’s telecoms watchdog, says that these services can be blocked within a month. Local ISPs will then have to prevent their users from access them.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web
Tags: VPN