Information about VPN services banned in Russia

By Alimat Aliyeva

Scientific and technical information describing the ways of creating and installing VPN services will be prohibited in Russia, Azernews reports.

The relevant draft order was published by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation (Roskomnadzor).

"Scientific, scientific and technical information describing the methods of creation, devices of VPN services, the purpose of which is to provide individuals with access to information resources and/or information and telecommunication networks, access to which is limited on the territory of the Russian Federation, should also be recognized as prohibited," the authors of the project say.

The exception will be information about the VPN, which is used to provide secure remote access.

"For this purpose, VPN services are used, in particular, by government agencies, local governments, and commercial enterprises," the explanatory note to the document says.

The public discussion of the document will end on August 5. It will enter into force on March 1, 2025 and will be valid until September 1, 2029.

On July 31, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin signed a law according to which the publication of information on ways to bypass blocking on websites will become the basis for including such a resource in the Unified Register of Prohibited Information of Roskomnadzor. The new rule prohibits advertising methods of bypassing locks, but does not prohibit the use of VPN services.