Proxy war

On 19 September, Roskomnadzor, Russia's online censorship agency, published the draft of decree that would allow it to block websites that provide instructions on how to use virtual private networks (VPNs) to get around the widespread blocking of websites in Russia that don't conform to the Kremlin's worldview. If approved, the new rules would apply from next March, and would empower the agency to block any site that:

• •"encourages" the circumventing of restrictions
• •provides instructions on ways to access blocked websites
• •describes any means of circumventing restrictions in a positive light
• •lists the benefits of any given method
• •offers the sale of software to access blocked websites
• •provides such tools for download

Public responses to the draft decree can be made at an online "public hearing" until 6 October. Roskomsvoboda, a Russian NGO that campaigns against online censorship and advocates for the protection of digital rights, has called on the Russian public to make their views heard about the proposal while they can.

The suggestion that Roskomnadzor should be granted these sweeping new powers to block websites was made by the Ministry of Digital Development in early September.

Before that, the most recent changes to the agency’s rules were made in December, when new articles allowing the blocking of websites that publish so-called "LGBT propaganda" or material promoting paedophilia or gender reassignment were added to the list.

Although the suggested changes have yet to be adopted, Roskomnadzor has already begun to block or slow down websites that allow users to download VPN software. There have already been reports from Russian internet users that the RedShield VPN and Radmin VPN websites aren’t available, despite neither being on the Roskomnadzor blacklist.

Mikhail Klimarev of the Internet Protection Society, which campaigns for online freedom in Russia, believes that Roskomnadzor has long been able to block any site it wants to, but that such actions usually go unannounced. In practice, this power doesn’t only allow the media regulator to block websites, Klimarev said, adding that in 2021, Roskomnadzor slowed Twitter down in Russia instead of banning the website outright.

Russia’s vague rules governing online content effectively hand Roskomnadzor powers to ban anything it decided to on the internet, Klimarev explains, adding that there is currently no way to legally challenge the agency’s rulings.

Roskomnadzor had two reasons to introduce the new guidelines, Klimarev believes. First, despite its pre-existing, unchecked power, the media regulator was unwilling to sidestep the legal niceties and wanted to ensure its new powers had a basis in law. Second, the authorities in Russia are planning to draw attention to what they have branded the “VPN problem”, in an attempt to dissuade ordinary Russians from using the software by whipping up fear of the security risks that downloading software onto a computer could pose. For example, State Duma deputy Alexander Khinshtein recently claimed that some VPNs were “simply unsafe for users themselves".

he wrote on Telegram.

Klimarev believes the new restrictions will not be the last the Kremlin is planning to introduce in its campaign against VPNs, suggesting that it was only a matter of time until VPN use in Russia is outlawed completely.

However, VPN use in Russia cannot be written off totally at this stage, Klimarev believes, pointing to the many other means available for circumventing online restrictions, such as VPN software distributed via messaging app Telegram or email, using a TOR browser, or changing DNS servers.

Even US messaging service WhatsApp can be used to distribute VPN clients and instructions on how to use them, Klimarev says.  Despite being the world’s most popular texting app, Whatsapp hadn’t attracted the attention of the authorities in Russia until quite recently when Roskomnadzor threatened to block the service if it activated its public channels feature for users in the country.

"By carrying on like this, the Russian authorities can ultimately block the entire internet. But then how are they going to sell oil or buy drones and other military equipment?” Klimarev wonders. “Every move Roskomnadzor makes in this chess game will only make things harder for the authorities."