By mid-January 2026, Roskomnadzor restricted Russians' access to 439 VPN services to bypass blocking. This is 70% more than in October 2025, Kommersant reports, citing data from the agency.
Under Russian law, VPNs are required to block access to prohibited sites, otherwise the services themselves are subject to restrictions. Since December 2025, Roskomnadzor has begun to more actively block additional protocols, including SOCKS5, VLESS, and L2TP. Since September 2025, there has been a ban on advertising VPN programs, the fines for violating which can reach 500 thousand rubles for legal entities.
Technically, blocking is implemented through Internet provider filters that analyze traffic "fingerprints" — server IP addresses, ports, and encryption types. Experts note that, despite the increase in the number of restrictions, the demand for VPN remains high: the active audience of the top 5 services has grown from 247 thousand to more than 6 million users, and international traffic has increased many times over.
The Kommersant newspaper notes that the market demonstrates an increase in the use of VPN not only by individuals, but also by companies that need services for remote work and communication with branches. At the same time, blocking creates difficulties for corporate VPNs and can lead to unstable connections, forcing users to look for new technical solutions.