Kremlin cuts Russians off from information about war by disabling VPNs

The Kremlin is trying to increase censorship by restricting access to virtual private networks (VPNs) for Russian residents. Thus, the Russian authorities want to deprive citizens of access to objective international news sources.

This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense on Twitter.

According to the report, over the past week, the Russian authorities have stepped up their ongoing efforts to disrupt Russian citizens' access to VPNs. According to reports, many of the most popular VPNs have ceased to be used in some regions of Russia.

Virtual private networks allow users to obfuscate their access to the internet, to maintain privacy, and to bypass state-imposed censorship.

According to British intelligence, VPNs are extremely popular in Russia, despite being banned since 2017. They allow users to access objective international news sources, including those about the war in Ukraine.

“VPNs likely represent the greatest single vulnerability within the Russian state’s attempts at pervasive domestic information control. As well as increased technical disruption, the Russian state has also launched a public information campaign, attempting to scare citizens into avoiding VPNs by claiming they put their personal data at risk," the British Ministry of Defense said.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 10/08/2023