Russia Prepares RuStore VPN Ban After Declaring RuStore Installation Mandatory

Russia's incremental moves to eliminate online privacy regularly target VPNs. To 'free' itself from Google and Apple, in 2022 Russia launched its very own app store, which ironically offers dozens of VPNs. After the government recently announced the mandatory pre-installation of RuStore on tech gadgets, a draft law will outlaw censorship-circumventing VPNs on RuStore.

Predictably, VPN apps must not facilitate access to sites that appear on the Unified Register, Russia’s blacklist for sites carrying whatever the state decides is “prohibited information.”

[If] VPNs unblock blocked sites, they too will be rendered illegal. Providing information that allows people to unblock blocked sites is also set to become a crime, most likely on March 1, 2024. That includes “extremist platforms” such as Facebook and Instagram.

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