Russia tests cutting itself off from the rest of the internet, most VPNs fail to bypass restrictions

In brief: Russia's long-running plans to cut itself off from the global internet and create its own sovereign version appear to have taken another big step toward reality. The country's communications authority, Roskomnadzor, reportedly tested the system by blocking foreign websites and applications in some regions recently. Unlike in China, where residents can use virtual private networks to circumvent Beijing's Great Firewall, most VPNs failed to allow Russian citizens to bypass the restrictions.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US nonprofit, Roskomnadzor conducted the test over the weekend, impacting residents in Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia – Russian regions mostly populated by ethnic minorities.

Users in these areas experienced issues accessing WhatsApp and Telegram, as well as YouTube, Google, and even some services of Russian internet giant Yandex.

ℹ️ Note: Metrics show the disruption and restoration of connectivity in Dagestan, #Russia, following what telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has described as a trial of its capacity to disable access to the foreign internet in a specific region; incident duration ~24 hours pic.twitter.com/7iYtDcVtSG

Russian digital rights NGO Roskomsvoboda told TechRadar that while most VPNs didn't work during the weekend's test, there were some that did. It never specified how many or which ones.

Russia has been cracking down on the use of VPNs recently. There are at least 197 of these services blocked in the country, and many have been removed from the Russian Apple App Store. There was also a law passed in March criminalizing the act of spreading information on how to bypass internet restrictions, which includes VPNs.

Russia has been working on its sovereign internet plans for a long time now, going back to before it invaded Ukraine (but after Crimea). In 2019, the country performed a series of tests to see if federal and commercial telecom operators could effectively separate Russia from the Internet while still allowing access to local services using a DNS cache.

Following the invasion of its neighbor in 2022 and the subsequent sanctions and restrictions imposed by Western companies, Russia fully disconnecting its homegrown RuNet from the rest of the internet seemed increasingly likely, even though the Russian Ministry for Digital Technology, Communication and Mass Media said at the time that there were no plans for such an action.

The Kremlin has recently invested roughly $648 million into developing its technical capabilities to restrict internet traffic, writes ISW. It has also been trying to push Russians into moving from Western social media platforms to domestic platforms that the government can more easily control.

On December 7, Roskomnadzor warned that it could block eight foreign web hosting providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), GoDaddy, and HostGator, from operating in the country due to noncompliance with Russian censorship laws.