Roskomnadzor responded to reports of VPN blocking from March 1, 2024

Roskomnadzor plans to independently block sites that contain information about methods and means of bypassing blocking in Russia. Formerly Senator Artem Sheikin reportedthat Roskomnadzor plans to issue an order according to which, from March 1, 2024, VPN services in application stores will be blocked if they provide access to resources blocked in Russia.

After this statement, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Alexander Khinshtein statedthat the department already has such powers. The deputy suggested that the senator had another initiative in mind: to limit the search results of those VPNs that do not filter prohibited information.

In conversation with TASS a representative of Roskomnadzor recalled that in September a draft resolution was published, with the help of which the service can begin to block sites containing information about methods and means of bypassing blocking in Russia.

“According to the draft resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation, developed by the Ministry of Digital Development, Roskomnadzor will independently decide on the inclusion of Internet pages containing information on ways and means of bypassing blocking in the Unified Register of Prohibited Information,” the department added. Roskomnadzor will determine criteria for restricting access to information about bypassing blocking.

Read more about the risks of prohibiting information about bypassing blocking in Yuri Litvinenko’s column “The printer jammed the instructions”.

Anastasia Larina