The use of VPNs and proxy servers to bypass blocking is not an offense for an ordinary Internet user in Russia. This was stated on March 18 by lawyer Timur Chanyshev, Chairman of the Advocate Premium Bar Association, to TASS. There is no norm in Russian law that establishes liability for the very fact of using a VPN. A legal assessment is given to a person's specific behavior and the nature of the information disseminated, but not to the technical method of accessing Internet resources. Criminal liability can only occur if actions directly prohibited by law are committed through a VPN.
VPN and criminal liability: when the law works against the user
Chanyshev outlined an exhaustive list of grounds for liability: the distribution of prohibited materials, public support for extremist or terrorist activities, and the administration of channels with illegal content. In all these cases, a VPN is only a technical tool, and the content of the actions, not the method of connection, constitutes the elements of an offense.
The use of VPNs or proxy servers is not an offense in itself
VPN services in Russia: what the law requires from providers
Russian law addresses requirements to VPN service owners, not users. Providers are required to connect to the state filtering system and restrict access to resources from the Roskomnadzor registry. If the service does not do this, it may be blocked. The law does not provide for any direct sanctions for the end user for choosing a method of accessing the Internet.
