Russia restricted foreign internet access in several regions over the weekend to test its national infrastructure.
Residents of the affected areas are unable to access foreign and local applications, including YouTube (one of the last remaining Western social media platforms in Russia), Google, WhatsApp and Telegram – According to the Record.
according to local coveragenot even Virtual Private Network (VPN) Apps seek to help citizens bypass online restrictions in what looks like a new phase of online censorship in the country.
A technical expert from the Russian digital rights organization Roskomsvoboda told TechRadar: “This incident is crucial for the possible evolution of online censorship in Russia because it shows what is technologically possible – the online experience is very limited and most common The stuff doesn’t work at all.
ℹ️ NOTE: Indicators show connectivity outages and restoration in #Russia’s Dagestan after telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor said it was trialling its ability to block access to foreign internet in specific areas; active for about 24 hours pic.twitter.com/7iYtDcVtSGDecember 7, 2024
It is reportedthe Runet trial mainly affects residents living in ethnic minority areas, such as Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia.
Data from network regulator NetBlocks (see tweet above) confirms that authorities restored internet connectivity in Dagestan on the evening of Saturday, December 7, 2024, 24 hours after the blockade, “telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor described it To test the ability to disable access to it.” Foreign Internet in specific regions,” experts noted.
However, recent events are not entirely surprising. Russian censorship agency A similar test was conducted in JulyIn fact, it is to ensure the functionality of the “sovereign Internet” infrastructure when disconnected from the wider network.
In September, the Kremlin also shared its plans Investment of over US$500 million (nearly 60 billion rubles) to update its internet blocking system over the next five years, especially for VPN use.
Russian censorship enters new phase
Russian censorship is evident become toughervisitors and residents have fewer means to overcome restrictions.
Although best VPN Apps have become an important resource for Russians who struggle to access international news and other blocked websites, and in 2024 the Kremlin doubled down on its crackdown on the use of Russian VPNs.
For beginners, new law New legislation introduced in March this year now makes it a criminal offense to disseminate information about circumventing network restrictions, including VPNs.
Did you know?
VPNs encrypt users’ Internet connections and mask their true connections IP address Place. The latter capability is particularly useful for Russians looking to use VPNs to bypass strict online restrictions—exactly what the authorities want to prevent.
According to the latest data, nearly There are currently 200 VPN services blocked in the country at the time of writing.
Only between July and September, approx. 60 VPN apps quietly disappeared The apps from the Russian Apple App Store bring the total number of apps unavailable in the tech giant’s official store to 98.
Roskomsvoboda confirmed to TechRadar that most VPN apps will not work during the shutdown, but some will. “It’s an arms race, with censorship agencies and circumvention technology developers both trying to neutralize each other’s efforts, and this has been going on for more than a decade. So, there is still hope,” the expert added.
The bad news doesn’t stop there for Russian internet users.
On December 7, Roskomnadzor returned Announcing plans to restrict At least eight foreigners web hosting providers because they failed to meet the agency’s review requirements. These include Amazon Web Services (AWS), GoDaddy, and HostGator.
This represents “a new phase in Russian internet censorship” famous One of the IT experts of Roskomsvoboda”, adding, “Similar things have happened on a small scale, but this is the biggest one.
Russian IT expert Ilya Vaitsman also expressed his concerns. Vaitsman is particularly concerned about the potential for increased national VPN censorship, as he explained that these platforms host a large portion of these services.
“Of course, there are hundreds of other less visible sites around the world that also have VPN nodes, but overall the situation is getting worse dramatically,” he said.