Russia's internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, has reportedly requested Google remove 47 VPNs from the Play Store.
Some of the best VPNs have already been affected by blockages in Russia, but none were included in this round of requests.
Reports suggest affected providers include Cloudfare's popular DNS resolver, 1.1.1.1, HideMyNetVPN, VPN4TV, and Secure VPN.
The regulator has said VPNs "provide access to banned content" and violate Russian internet laws.
A majority of the demands occurred between 15-21 March 2025, and during this time internet users across several Russian regions, including the Urals and Siberia, experienced widespread outages.
Apps including TikTok, Duolingo, and Twitch were unable to be accessed, and two of the best encrypted messaging apps, WhatsApp and Telegram, faced interruptions.
Roskomnadzor said the outages were due to "the use of foreign server infrastructure where failures are recorded." However many believe the disruption was the result of Russia's recent blocking of 1.5 million Cloudflare IP addresses.
Russia also disrupted the internet in several regions back in December 2024. Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia were all affected in a rumored test of the country's "sovereign internet structure."
Removal requests not new
This isn't the first time Russian authorities have demanded the removal of VPNs from app stores.
In 2024, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and IPVanish were targeted for failing to comply with Russia's content censorship requirements and Apple removed popular VPN apps from the Russian app store in July 2024.
In March 2024, the Russian government demanded access to VPN servers hosted in Russia. In response, providers, including NordVPN, removed all servers from Russia.
However, Proton VPN continues to host servers in the country and the best Russia VPNs are still effective in navigating Russian censorship – despite Russia having some of the world's strictest VPN laws.
Because many of the leading VPN providers are banned in Russia, if possible you should download and install the apps when outside of the country.
VyprVPN is our recommended VPN for Russia thanks to its effective Chameleon protocol. The protocol scrambles your internet traffic's metadata, making it hard for censors to detect and block.
Proton VPN's Stealth protocol, NordVPN's NordWhisper, Obscura VPN, NymVPN and others all offer forms of traffic obfuscation, making them effective at bypassing censorship. Your VPN traffic is mixed in with regular internet traffic and is protected against deep-packet inspection (DPI), allowing you to access a free and open internet, free from censorship.
Disclaimer
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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