After proposing new legislation that could lead to Russia having its own internet, the Russian authorities have now issued a notice to 10 VPN providers to restrict access to websites that are banned by the country’s laws.
The notice issued by Roskomnadzor, the communications watchdog of Russia, mentions that if VPN providers fail to block the censored websites, the government will block internet access to their services.
A 30-days timeline has been provided to the companies to comply with the orders.
Popular VPN companies like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, VyprVPN, TorGuard, IPVanish and Hide My Ass have received the orders.
Roskomnadzor has asked VPN companies to join the state IT system, which contains a list of state-blocked websites.
VPN services providing companies have responded to the Russian government’s orders. Golden Frog, the company behind VyprVPN, told PCMag that it will not comply with the orders. “Our core mission is to keep the internet open and free, so VyprVPN will continue to provide uncensored access to the internet,” said the CEO of Golden Frog.
TorGuard, another popular VPN, has written a blog post announcing that it has removed all Russian servers. “If we feel the legal climate in a country could pose a threat to our customer’s online security, then we will no longer offer servers in that country,” states TorGuard’s blog post.
Russia is trying to isolate its internet from the rest of the world and imposing censorship to achieve the same. What do you think about the Russian government’s order to VPN providers?
