The Russian government has accounted that they will block virtual private network services (VPN services) because of the upcoming election. According to the government, VPN services provide easy access to outlawed information and secrete resources.
According to the report, they have decided to ban Russia’s top 6 popular VPN service providers. The ban covers some of the popular VPN services provides like KeepSolid VPN Unlimited, Nord VPN, Hola! VPN, Express VPN, IPVanish VPN, and Speedyfy VPN.
Though this is not new for the Russian people, VPN banning is not the first time for them! This ban will also happen in the future for security purposes.
No doubt VPN services are strictly illegal in Russia, and the services VPN service provides need to be approved by the Russian Government. Despite the Russian government’s suspicion of VPNs, they have essentially become a much-trusted tool worldwide for businesses and consumers during the time of the COVID pandemic.
Now the question is why VPN is illegal in Russia? Let’s know more details about this.
Why are Russia Blocking VPN services?
According to the Russian government, they will take action against the VPN service providers, as we already mentioned above. According to the government, these VPN service providers are facilitating people to break the law. In a statement, the government stated that VPNs are influencing many bad activities like extremism and child pornography, which is why they want to ban VPN in Russia. That’s doesn’t mean VPNs are illegal in Russia, but they have to take permission from the government before using them.
In a statement, Roskomnadzor stated that blocking bypassing services leads to the preservation of access to prohibited information and resources, which are the main reasons for several illegal activities.
No doubt Russia wants to restrict internet freedom for its citizens. Russian firewall technical team is also working towards it; if they succeed, you may find a complete cut off the country from the global internet. According to reports, in June and July, the government has also successfully conducted these tests. Soon, there is a chance that the government will decide to turn off the global internet from Russia permanently in the future.
According to the Russian government, the internet cut out in the future will be only for the protection of crucial data against cyber hacks. Still, the global internet cut is only to remove the influence of outside critics regarding Putin’s regime.
Now the question is can you use VPN in Russia? Let’s know more details about it!
Can I use a VPN in Russia?
When it comes to can you use a VPN in Russia? The answer is yes! the good news is that Russia has not banned VPNs entirely. Currently, they only restricted 6 top VPN service providers. However, you have to take permission from the government to use a VPN in Russia.
But the problem here is even with VPN approval, and the Russian government will decide which sites users can’t access and closely monitor what you are doing. That’s the reason many VPN service providers were removed in 2019.
Bloomberg suggests that the restrictions of VPN services are only because of the upcoming parliament elections, which will happen later this month. Let’s see what will happen in the future; though people are not happy with the restriction of VPN services, there are no other options.
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