Roskomnadzor threatened to block nine popular VPNs within a month

Nine popular VPN services did not comply with Roskomnadzor’s requirement to connect to the state information system with a list of prohibited resources, so they could be blocked “within a month,” Roskomnadzor head Alexander Zharov said in an interview with Interfax. Only one service was connected to the registry - Kaspersky Secure Connection from Kaspersky Lab.

Who will be disconnected? On March 28, Roskomnadzor, for the first time since the adoption of the law banning VPNs, sent 10 services a request to connect to the state system, which contains a register of information prohibited in the Russian Federation. In theory, VPN services should block users from accessing sites that are in the registry. Those receiving the request include NordVPN, Hide My Ass!, Hola VPN, Openvpn, VyprVPN, ExpressVPN, TorGuard, IPVanish, VPN Unlimited and Kaspersky Secure Connection. “Kaspersky agreed. All the others did not answer, moreover, they wrote on their websites that they would not comply with Russian law,” Zharov complained.

When they turn it off. Zharov did not say from what point the month should be counted until the VPN is blocked, but said that even if the situation is bad for the services, there will be no tragedy for users, because “these VPNs do not exhaust the entire list of proxy programs available to citizens.”

• According to the law, services are given 30 working days to comply with Roskomnadzor’s requirements. In case of refusal to connect to the system or blocking of sites specified by Roskomnadzor, the service will be disabled in the territory of the Russian Federation. The blocking can be lifted after the violations are eliminated. The FSB or another structure engaged in operational investigative activities decides which service should be sent a notification from Roskomnadzor.

What to do in case of blocking. You can read (just in case) about ways to bypass the blocking here . A list of paid VPNs is here .