Russia disconnects several regions from the global internet to test its sovereign net

Russia restricted foreign internet access across several regions over the weekend to test its national infrastructure.
Residents of the affected regions couldn’t access both foreign and local apps, including the likes of YouTube (one of the last Western social media platforms still available in Russia), Google, WhatsApp, and Telegram – The Record reported.
As per local reports, not even virtual private network (VPN) apps managed to help citizens bypass internet restrictions in what looks like a new phase of online censorship for the country.
“This event is crucial in the possible evolution of online censorship in Russia because it shows what’s technically possible – a very limited internet experience where most common things simply don’t work,” a technical expert from the Russian digital rights group Roskomsvoboda told TechRadar.
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/7iYtDcVtSGDecember 7, 2024
According to reports, Runet trials mostly affected residents living in areas populated by ethnic minorities, such as Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia.
Data from the internet watchdog NetBlocks (see tweet above) confirmed that authorities restored internet connectivity in Dagestan late on Saturday, December 7, 2024, after 24 hours of blockage which “telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has described as a trial of its capacity to disable access to the foreign internet in a specific region,” experts noted.
The latest incidents don’t come as a total surprise, though. Russia’s censor body conducted similar tests in July, in fact, to ensure the functionality of the “sovereign internet” infrastructure when it was disconnected from the wider web.
In September, the Kremlin also shared its plans to invest over half a billion US dollars (almost 60 billion rubles) over the next five years to update its internet-blocking system, especially against VPN usage.
A new phase of Russian censorship
Russian censorship is clearly getting tougher, and visitors and residents are left with fewer means to overcome restrictions.
While the best VPN apps have become a crucial resource for people in Russia struggling to access international news and other blocked websites, 2024 has seen the Kremlin double down against Russia’s VPN usage.
For starters, a new law enforced in March now criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions – VPNs included.
Do you know?
VPNs encrypt users’ internet connections and mask their real IP address location. The latter ability is particularly useful to Russians who wish to use VPNs to bypass stringent internet restrictions – exactly what the authorities seek to prevent.
As per the latest data, nearly 200 VPN services are currently blocked in the country at the time of writing.
Between July and September alone, about 60 VPN apps silently disappeared from the Russian Apple App Store, bringing the total of unavailable applications in the Big Tech giant’s official store to 98.
Roskomsvoboda confirmed to TechRadar that most VPN apps weren’t working during the shutdown, but some did. “That’s an arms race, where both censors and circumvention tech developers work to cancel out each other’s efforts and it’s been going on for over a decade. So, there is still hope,” the expert added.
The bad news for Russian internet users does not end here, either.
On December 7, Roskomnadzor also announced plans to restrict at least eight foreign web hosting providers as they fail to meet the agency’s censorship requirements. These include Amazon Web Services (AWS), GoDaddy, and HostGator.
This represents “a new stage in Russian online censorship,” noted one of Roskomsvoboda’s IT specialists, adding that “Something similar has already happened on a small scale, but this is the biggest one.”
Russian IT expert Ilya Vaitsman expressed his concerns, too. Vaitsman is especially worried about a potential boost in VPN censorship across the country since, he explains, these platforms host a significant portion of these services.
He said: “Of course, there are hundreds of other sites in the world, not so noticeable, where there are also VPN nodes, but in general the situation is deteriorating sharply.”
Russia restricted foreign internet access across several regions over the weekend to test its national infrastructure. Residents of the affected regions couldn’t access both foreign and local apps, including the likes of YouTube (one of the last Western social media platforms still available in Russia), Google, WhatsApp, and Telegram –…
Recent Posts
- Windows 11 24H2 hasn’t raised the bar for the operating system’s CPU requirements, Microsoft clarifies
- Acer is the first to raise laptop prices because of Trump
- OpenSSH vulnerabilities could pose huge threat to businesses everywhere
- Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy sets will tell the stories of the games
- All of Chipolo’s Bluetooth trackers are discounted in sitewide sale
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010