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News & Current Events Mar 31, 2026 at 1:15 PM

Russia’s Digital Ministry Declares War on VPNs

Posted by sr_local

Russia’s Digital Ministry Declares War on VPNs - The Moscow Times
The Moscow Times
Russia’s Digital Ministry Declares War on VPNs - The Moscow Times
Russia’s Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said Monday that the government will begin cracking down on the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, a common tool that Russians have increasingly turned to in recent years to get around internet surveillance and censorship. “We have an obligation to fulfill the tasks that have been set before us.
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outerproduct Mar 31, 2026 +47
We are declaring war..... on stress!
47
zodwieg Mar 31, 2026 +18
Anyone still experiencing stress by the end of the day WILL BE FIRED
18
Unlikely_Tax_1111 Apr 1, 2026 +1
^(There's a free buffet...)
1
1_g0round Mar 31, 2026 +28
oh here we go again another "3 day excursion" on vpn's about to be dragged out for several years
28
[deleted] Mar 31, 2026 +60
Another war they won’t be able to win lol
60
jc-from-sin Mar 31, 2026 +12
They already have DPI that detect VPNs. That's not easy to fool.
12
count023 Mar 31, 2026 +5
the detection is not the issue, blocking legitimate business uses such as finance or corporate integrity \_is\_.
5
Comfortable_Egg8039 Apr 1, 2026 +4
No we don't it's still a piece of shit, but we have white lists :c
4
xnmyl Mar 31, 2026 +9
Every headline Ibsee coming out ofnRussia is a headline I fear seeing comingnout of the US under Trump We're following in Russia's footsteps, just a couple years behind
9
VegasKL Mar 31, 2026 +10
We've had this headline at the MAGA state level. Quite a few red states have tried or are proposing VPN restrictions.
10
Dispator Mar 31, 2026 +10
I mean it's not just Russia. I fear most countries will end up lock down the internet to keep citizens walled off to internet within borders tied to local laws/regulations. They will blame foreign actors, laws and regulations not matching, disinformation/lies/propaganda from outside border that they can't control, terrorism, election meddling, .... they have infinite reasons yet limited reasons to keep the internet global. There will likely be some whitelists across boarders or maybe groups of countries like EU staying together (or parts of the EU because they have bad actors too)... But yeahhh...it's coming to everyone im afraid. And once some of the major players start doing it then it becomes easier for everyone else to do it and if you don't your country will be targeted heavily since your "open".
10
the-corinthian Mar 31, 2026 +1
Locking down the internet is bad for net neutrality, but there is a flipside to this to consider: misinformation and manipulation of populations, deliberately used by countries like Ruzzia, Iran, and China. It's a sad state of affairs that we are where we are, but bad actors can make good things easier to take away. I'm not advocating anything here, just pointing out the realities of our current situation. It will only get worse as AI gets better at faking information/video/pictures. (It's already pretty rife right now, but there are tell-tale markers on \*most\* manipulated images and video.)
1
Dispator Apr 1, 2026 +2
Its bad for everything. Even with all the misinformation/disinformation/lies/etc ...one at least can choose what information with an open internet.... Without that we STILL get misinformation/disinformation/lies/etc except its state sponsored and then everyone gets little to no outside reference so yeah its all bad. But I know what you mean.
2
narcomance Apr 1, 2026 +1
I noticed what Trump said about the Iran "special operation" was exactly the same what Putin said about the Ukraine "special operation"
1
Nyoka_ya_Mpembe Mar 31, 2026 +24
So then no more cheaters in online games will finally happen?
24
Smooth_Criminalo Mar 31, 2026 +4
No, even more pissed same guys man
4
FigureFourWoo Mar 31, 2026 +7
Why isn’t it a special military operation?
7
eposseeker Mar 31, 2026 +11
They'll block Yandex if a VPN-routed connection is detected? They want them to use Google? Also, I'm pretty sure the Russians who use VPN already can figure out how to not route Russia-directed traffic (if they don't care about inter-Russia privacy) or how to stack a local public proxy on top of the VPN (if they do). It's a losing battle
11
astrobud Mar 31, 2026 +4
With Ukraine hitting so much of the oil refining and transport hubs the biggest external source of income for russia is all of the sex c*** coming out of St. Petersburg. If russia really wants to shoot itself in the foot like that then go right ahead.
4
randomguuid Mar 31, 2026 +15
Had to double take then, Russia looked a lot like United Kingdom for a second.
15
loversama Mar 31, 2026 +4
I thought that too, I was about to pipe up and then saw it was the other nanny-state this time..
4
xX609s-hartXx Mar 31, 2026 -5
Didn't know the UK has been involved in a large scale invasion for years right now...
-5
Yingmyyang Mar 31, 2026 +4
No but uk also wants to ban vpn for under 16.
4
Starkiller_303 Mar 31, 2026 +2
Yeah VPNs do seem like a danger to Russia's attempt to control and propagandize their citizens. I wonder how long until they try to the same thing in the U.S.
2
Og-Morrow Mar 31, 2026 +2
Cool cool
2
MrSlay Mar 31, 2026 +2
Will they also ban thousands of russian misinformation bots?
2
Major_Wayland Mar 31, 2026 +4
Bots and propaganda accounts are never get banned.
4
MeduseYahoo Mar 31, 2026 +1
Je déclare la guerre aux araignées...
1
murdoc1024 Mar 31, 2026 +1
Wasnt it already prohibited?
1
Astralele Apr 1, 2026 +1
So CS2 will be playable without Russians?
1
the_amateon Mar 31, 2026
[ Removed by Listnook ]
0
xParesh Mar 31, 2026 -20
Russia might soon have their access to the internet as restricted as the UK
-20
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