Understanding the Impact of VPN Restrictions in Russia
My VPN has stopped working. What should I do?
Wait. It will start working again. Usually, everything returns to normal within a day. Sometimes within a few hours, but occasionally it may take several days.
An important point.
Basically, everything works for us as it always does for Google. Even when Roskomnadzor (hereinafter referred to simply as RKN) tries to break VPN, it breaks it for you, not us.
Connecting through WiFi
If you have the option to connect via WiFi, you can try turning off mobile data and connecting through WiFi. This issue usually bypasses wired internet providers, although it may affect regional ones at times. Normally, such problems are not observed over WiFi, and you can wait until Roskomnadzor gets tired of it.
Why it is happening?
Blocking your VPN connection is a targeted measure by the state, so you can confidently consider it a personal matter. There's no point in complaining here. The same authority that is responsible for overseeing the quality of the communication operators is the one breaking your VPN.
A moment that is important to understand correctly. The issue is not with the service; it runs like clockwork. The problem with VPN is with you personally, and we are only here to help you resolve it. Sometimes this is not always successful, but we are working towards a 100% success rate.
Whom to blame for VPN is not working in Russia?
How can this even happen? What does it have to do with me and my VPN?
To explain in simplified terms at a household level, Roskomnadzor remotely accesses the equipment of your communication operator and tinkers with it. They have a legal basis for this, provided to them by the so-called 'legislators.' So, everything is legal. Although the concept of 'legality' in Russia has long taken on an exclusively philosophical meaning.
And so, Roskomnadzor finds a random subscriber, you, using VPN. They don't know and can't spy on what you're doing, what you're up to, whether you're watching FBK, attentively listening to Khodorkovsky, or some kind of Katz. Or maybe you're innocently posting cats on Instagram. In that case, they simply apply means of suppression to you connection. They observe the result. Did your VPN break or not? They record it in their little notebook (figuratively). They torment you for a while and then leave you alone.
Imagine that you're at war and the enemy is using electronic warfare against you. Personally against you. This is all figurative, but it's close to reality. You use VPN, it's not prohibited, but you're already an opponent.
Right now, you're the guinea pig. They're training to block VPN on you. So, the problem is temporary for now. If it happened to you, the connection will normalize on its own within a day. Sometimes it takes a little longer.
Roskomnadzor is currently studying the type of your connection, training their filters and AI. You ended up in their sample. Sooner or later, everyone will end up there, but for now, it's just tests.
It's like a spider that crawls around and tries the taste of everyone it sees, chews a bit, savors, and then spits it out, remembering the taste and texture. Figuring out how it could eat everyone at once, because right now, it is not possible yet.
It was impossible to imagine this 10 years ago. Today, it's becoming commonplace.
Our task now is to make sure that when the time comes, we don't get eaten.
We have our means of resistance. They work. They are effective and are currently being tested on a group of users. They are showing good reliability when used by an ordinary person, but they require additional adaptation.
The tests have been slightly delayed, mainly because our VPN service remains accessible to the majority of users even during the mass blocking of VPN connections.
Our new subsystem, guaranteeing individual users evasion from the blocking of VPN connections, it currently requires additional interface refinement for ease of use by the average user, and we are currently working on this.
As mentioned above, RKN is not blocking our service. It is directly blocking you, so you will need to take some additional actions on your side to avoid such blockages in the future. At the moment, we are refining this to make it understandable, simple, fast, high-quality, and as easy to use as our VPN solution you currently use.
Stay tuned for updates and, if you haven't already subscribed to the service's information channel, do so to receive information about changes promptly.