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Internet using coupons
You have to pay to use a VPN
According to Forbes, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, held two closed meetings with businesses. The first was attended by representatives of large telecom operators, the second - digital platforms such as VK, Ozon and Yandex. According to the publication, Shadayev asked operators to charge for the use of VPN services after exceeding the limit of 15 GB of international traffic per month, and digital platforms not to allow users accessing through means of bypassing blocking. According to Forbes sources, payment for using VPN may be introduced before May 1.
According to Kommersant, the Ministry of Digital Development is calling on members of the “white list”, marketplaces, IT companies, banks, delivery services, to not allow users with VPN enabled right now. If the requirement is not met, companies will lose their places on these lists. The Ministry of Digital Development confirmed that the ministry is faced with the task of reducing the use of VPNs in Russia. Maksut Shadayev emphasized that the department does not support the introduction of administrative liability for the use of VPNs.
VPN services have become very popular in Russia for accessing blocked resources. In 2022, Russia became the world leader in VPN downloads. The number of VPN users has grown from 4% in 2021 to 42% in 2025, but Roskomnadzor is actively blocking popular services. Apple is removing popular VPNs from the App Store at the request of the Russian agency.
Let’s talk about how a “digital concentration camp” is being built in Russia and how Russians can live under Internet censorship with cyberlaw lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan and politician Dmitry Gudkov .
Users of the Telegram messenger in Russia on Tuesday began receiving notifications that in the near future it may become technically impossible to pay for a Premium subscription. Users who want to purchase a subscription are advised to do so before April 1. It is assumed that from this day on, a “total blocking” of Telegram is planned in the country, the work of which has been significantly limited in recent months. There have also been reports that the Russian Ministry of Digital Development plans to introduce fees for using VPN.
You have to pay to use a VPN
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Politician Dmitry Gudkov is sure that reports about the introduction of paid VPN in Russia are similar to an attempt by the authorities to scare Internet users. Some of them will still find a way to bypass the blocking, but globally, the future of the Russian Internet is in the hands of Vladimir Putin and the FSB:
20-25% of Russians, if they don’t cut off the cable at all, will always find a way to bypass these blockings
-I think Vladimir Putin understands that a huge number of people cannot live without the Internet, that they download VPNs and simply find a way to bypass blocks. Therefore, the authorities do not know what to do about this, and begin to intimidate the Russians. They are threatened with traffic restrictions and administrative liability. But Roskomnadzor already has the ability to block a VPN if they detect it. What's the point of resorting to administrative penalties if they can simply turn everything off? And if they can't turn it off, then they can't figure it out. This will be an eternal struggle - either they completely turn off the Internet, and then no VPN will help. Or they will catch up, and users will run away. And this story will last quite a long time. At the same time, it seems to me that 20-25% of Russians, even if they don’t cut off the cable completely, will always find a way to bypass these blockings.
Security forces who want to control everything don’t need a free Internet
At the same time, we will not hear any voices from the authorities against such a policy. I watched the LDPR congress, which they recently held on a grand scale in Moscow. They didn't say a word about the Internet at all. This suggests that the Duma will be completely under the control of Lubyanka. Accordingly, A Just Russia, the LDPR and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation will remain silent about the Internet. Maybe the “New People” will say something, but it’s unlikely that they will be allowed to get too excited about this topic. I think that the fight against the Internet affects the interests of not only ordinary people, but also the elites who have built their business there. If you take food delivery from a restaurant, it is impossible without an application and the Internet. Putin simply doesn’t understand this, because this food is brought to him personally. But, judging by how the situation in the country is developing, Putin’s rating is falling, the war continues, he will need to make some kind of decision. Security forces who want to control everything do not need a free Internet. And since Putin depends on them, he will make a decision under their influence, says politician Dmitry Gudkov.
Cyber law lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan told Radio Liberty what the consequences of restrictions on Internet traffic, the Telegram messenger and the possible introduction of a paid VPN in Russia will lead to:
The main card has not yet been played - giving Telegram the status of an extremist or terrorist organization
- Indeed, there has been a lot of news in recent days. It seems that the presidential administration gave instructions by hook or by crook, persuasion and deception, horror stories and fables to force people to leave VPN, forget about Telegram and quickly accept the reality of the Max messenger. Talk that all VPNs will be blocked and resistance is useless are most likely scarecrows, but the authorities can do a lot more that they haven’t done yet. They may block the ability to replenish accounts and may require Apple to remove applications for Russian users, including Telegram and WhatsApp. And we know that Apple will willingly agree to this. You can also remove domains from the national domain name system so that your default browsers don't remember that such services even exist.
And, of course, the main card on the part of the authorities has not yet been played - giving Telegram the status of an extremist or terrorist organization. If this happens, the messenger will lose a fairly large part of the audience, which will not be able to pay for Premium subscriptions, place ads, administer channels, and so on. But, of course, there is always a way around it. And it seems that people's interest in these means of bypassing blockages is only growing. I think by the end of the year we will actually see that at least 50% of Internet users have a VPN and various ways to bypass blocks. In fact, this will bring Russia closer to Iran, where half the population lives like this.
The quality of the Internet will become even worse, because TSPUs are starting to work on wired communication nodes
As for the so-called “white lists” - so far we see that this is the domain of the FSB, and it includes them manually. After all, Russia lives more under Roskomnadzor and technical means of countering threats (TSPU). Although this second switch from the security forces is now greatly affecting life not only in the regions. Capitals have also been living for weeks under conditions of a total mobile shutdown. But there is still a feeling that this will happen again, and the quality of the Internet will become even worse, because TSPUs are starting to work on wired communication centers. It’s good that they are not available everywhere yet, because this is an expensive technology, and Russia is a huge country. But we see that the Kremlin has both the desire and the need to improve these systems.
Russians who want to bypass Internet blocking still have a lot of tools at their disposal. We recommend Amnezia VPN , they recently released a protocol that has become even more resistant to censorship and can deceive TSPU systems that detect traffic to Telegram and VPN. In addition, you need to master new applications, such as Delta Chat , which works on the mail protocol. It seems that Russian authorities are not yet ready to block all e-mail in the country. It is also necessary to remember about such armor-piercing tools like Tor, Psiphon and Proxy for those messengers that work periodically. It is foolish to rely on any one method. You need to stock up on these tools yourself and make sure that your relatives also have a set of safe applications, including those that can work without the Internet at all, if the shutdown suddenly happens again and “white lists” are introduced everywhere. The process of sovereignty of the Russian Internet and its separation from the global network will continue, Sarkis Darbinyan is sure.