- Russian media regulator proposed ‘state VPN’ for IT specialists
- Roskomnadzor seeks to restore access to developer platforms inadvertently blocked by its own VPN crackdown
- Industry experts fear the tool could enable state surveillance and create a “privileged tier” of internet users.
Ironically, Russia’s federal media regulator, Roskomnadzor, is considering creating a unified “state VPN” to help the country’s IT specialists circumvent its own aggressive Internet restrictions. The proposal aims to solve a problem created by the government itself: its war on censorship circumvention tools now prevents developers from accessing essential foreign coding resources.
The plan was revealed during a June 8 meeting between Roskomnadzor deputy director Oleg Terlyakov and several IT companies. As first reported by Russian independent newspaper The Bell, the meeting was called after a wave of complaints from developers who found themselves cut off from vital international platforms. These include the code sharing site GitHub, repositories for the Python programming language, and the design tool Figma.
Instead of relaxing its grip, the solution proposed by the regulator is a government-controlled VPN designed for “those who really need it”.
The move highlights a growing conflict in Russia: the state’s desire for a tightly controlled internet clashes with the practical needs of its strategically important technology industry.
While a VPN is the ideal tool for the job, relying on one of the best VPN services, which prioritizes user privacy through audited no-logging policies, sets the standard for secure access, something a state-run tool is unlikely to offer.
A cure worse than the disease?
Details about this Unified State VPN are still scarce, but the reaction from the Russian IT community has been overwhelmingly negative.
Rather than welcoming the proposal, developers and industry experts have called the idea “shady.” Their main fear is that a centralized, state-controlled VPN is the perfect tool for control and surveillance.
Route all traffic through a single government-run gateway would give Roskomnadzor unprecedented visibility into the work of every developer using it. A source at the meeting told reporters: “Cutting Russians off from international development tools will be even easier if everyone starts using the same VPN.”
There are also fears that this could backfire internationally. “It could easily block access from abroad, and the idea itself seems fishy,” another source from a Russian IT association told The Bell.
The proposal, commentators fear, also risks creating a two-speed Internet, where a “privileged caste with complete access” would emerge.
Russia’s War on VPNs
This latest development is just one chapter in the Kremlin’s long-running battle against the tools that give Russians a window into an uncensored Internet.
While Roskomnadzor has been blocking access to popular VPN services for years, the blocking has intensified as, since April, Russian providers have had an obligation to detect and block active VPN connections.
More recently, the country’s censorship body has even been accused of launching DDoS attacks against VPN providers in an attempt to disrupt their services. Despite these aggressive measures, Russian officials also had to admit that completely banning VPNs is “simply impossible.”
In the face of unbreakable technology and an increasingly isolated digital economy, Roskomnadzor’s plan to build its own VPN looks less like a solution and more like a Trojan horse, offering access with one hand while potentially increasing surveillance with the other. For Russian developers, this is a “solution” that few people trust.
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