Russia has blocked an average of 4,900 websites per week so far in 2022, according to Roskomsvoboda, an internet freedom NGO. According to Roskomsvoboda’s report, published Monday by the Kommersant business daily, authorities restricted 14,800 websites last week alone — the highest total in a single week in several years. While it did not name potential …
640,000 websites are currently blocked in Russia, reports NGO Read More
Since the sanctions came down on Russia there has been a bonanza of M&A activity as those companies and oligarchs that have been included in the lists have had to dump their subsidiaries to protect them from being targeted. Often this means that individuals find themselves on a list, but their company is excluded as it …
According to the latest release of Atlas VPN’s Global VPN Adoption Index, downloads of virtual private networks (VPN) reached 215 million in the first half of 2022. Russia recorded the most significant shift, with nearly 35 million downloads of VPN services in said period. While Russians had only made only 12.5 million downloads during the previous year, …
35 million Russians downloaded VPN applications in H1 2022 Read More
Russian authorities have blocked or deleted some 138,000 websites since Moscow launched its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February, the country’s prosecutor general said Monday. Following over 300 requests from prosecutors, Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has censored thousands of websites in a bid to combat “fake news,” according to prosecutor general Igor Krasnov. “After the start of …
Russia has blocked 138,000 websites since Ukraine invasion, prosecutor says Read More
Webpages in the city of Kherson in south Ukraine stopped loading on people’s devices at 2:43 pm on May 30. For the next 59 minutes, anyone connecting to the internet with KhersonTelecom, known locally as SkyNet, couldn’t call loved ones, find out the latest news, or upload images to Instagram. They were stuck in a …
Russia is taking over the Internet in Ukraine’s occupied territories Read More
In late April, Russian Internet giant Yandex announced it was selling its news service, Yandex.News, and its personal recommendations service, Yandex.Zen, to VK Company, which is controlled by the Kremlin. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, these products (just like Yandex overall) have faced a barrage of criticism for misleading millions of users by withholding credible information …
Toxic assets: How Yandex became part of Russia’s censorship machine Read More
Two of Russia’s largest search engines have removed results for Facebook, Instagram and several independent news websites after authorities blocked or declared them “extremist.” Meduza, Mediazona, Deutsche Welle, Current Time, Kholod, The Insider and other news outlets that have been providing independent coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were also removed from search results. Yandex …
Russian search engines remove “extremist” Instagram, Facebook, independent media results Read More
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are more in use than ever in Russia as a number of social networks and media have been made inaccessible by the authorities. Mobile operator Yota reports that the proportion of its subscribers using VPN services grew 38-fold, reaching 22.8% of the total number of Yota clients, from Jan. 1 to …
VPN use skyrockets as Russia blocks popular social networks and media resources Read More
Russia has made some serious progress in import substitution, but the new technology sanctions will hit Russian industry hard. Some sanctions will have almost immediate effect. Take microchips, the Russia’s Achilles heel for decades. Despite all the country’s efforts — the Soviet Union even built a city for the sole purpose of solving the problem …
Among Joe Biden’s options to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are disruptive cyberattacks—the kind that Russia itself often unleashes on other countries. Even more broadly, sanctions experts have discussed the possibility of cutting countries off from the global internet entirely, the way governments do to stifle unrest in domestic regions. But Russia has been preparing for …
Russia has been preparing to have its internet cut off Read More
Like many significant political developments of late, the decision to block TOR came almost unannounced by the Russian authorities. TOR — an acronym for “The Onion Router” — is encryption software that allows users to stealthily surf the Internet and bypass locally imposed web restrictions. Russian internet users spotted the blocking of TOR, and it was only after …
A new law regulating the activity of foreign digital companies in Russia, adopted in early July, is already coming into force, as witnessed by several new orders issued last week by Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator. Owners of websites, information systems, or electronic programs that generate a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more are required to open a …
Russia tightens control over foreign large-traffic sites and apps Read More
