Before anyone says that it’s a sign of Russian authoritarianism, adjust your anger accordingly: France is doing the same, the UK is as well (they even have gone as far as just banning encryption because “pedos” - in a country that adores and is ruled by pedophiles).

And the rest of western Europe probably isn’t faring much better but I’m not as aware of it.

Most popular VPNs were getting blocked here at the same pace as in Iran, official websites to get them are banned too. Some editions claimed this move is about making Apple\Google restrict them on respective appstores by themselves because siloviki can’t deny getting these apps without fucking up the whole platform. And they don’t want to bring unnecessary discomfort to agreeable masses who use these markets to download apps daily.

Corporate and goverment networks won’t be affected, obviously. Troll farms too. Only a minority of those not invested enough to find other loopholes. I don’t see if it matters to those outside of Russia. For locals? Not a surprise, really, snd I don’t feel they’d block youtube and telegram, both are still availiable to get information if one wants it.

Timing of that act doesn’t say anything either. They want to sanitize the internet before presidential elections, and do it that way? It doesn’t make sense. It won’t affect those who already downloaded such apps, or those using other sources. Seems like a coincidence that this part of closing the iron dome happened to fall there, not the first, not the last. Or, equally possible, elderly officials don’t know how it works kek.

This should totally be the error they give you when using a vpn in russia. Its a shame russia government is so stupid they are on the brink of booming piracy this will likely stall efforts if every vpn is blocked.

March 1st? Right before the presidential elections? No way they’re that stupid. Right after the elections, though, it’s gonna be inevitable. If people will vote for Putin one more time, Russia will quickly turn into North Korea.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Demand for VPN services soared after Russia restricted access to some Western social media after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Senator Artem Sheikin said an order from the Roskomnadzor watchdog would come into force on March 1 that would block VPNs.

“From March 1, 2024, an order will come into force to block VPN services providing access to sites banned in Russia,” Sheikin was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.

Phone calls to the number listed by Roskomnadzor as its press service were answered by a voice message with the Bobby McFerrin song “Don’t Worry Be Happy”.

Sheikin said that it was particularly important to block access to Meta Platforms (META.O), which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

“I would like to note that it is especially important to restrict citizens’ access to the products of Meta which is recognised as an extremist organization,” Sheikin added.

The original article contains 216 words, the summary contains 152 words. Saved 30%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!