The text “W tekście umieszczono linki reklamowe naszego partnera” contains advertising links from our partner. Bielsat, a Belarusian-language television station broadcasting from Poland, shared a video on its profile on the X portal of a meeting between Jekaterina Mizulina and youth from Yekaterinburg. During the meeting, the head of the Russian Safe Internet League was asked if she confirms rumors that VPN services will be blocked from March 2024.

She replied that it is most likely to happen, as reported by “The Moscow Times”. Mizulina then explained that although it would be “technically impossible” to completely block VPNs by the authorities, the blocks will be targeted at some of the most popular services. “VPN, especially the free ones, are total gates to hell.

It’s a big black hole on your device,” said Jekaterina Mizulina during the meeting. As Bielsat reminds, it was thanks to VPN services that Russians could bypass the blocks imposed on Western news portals. Russia has been trying for some time to discourage citizens from using VPNs.

As noted by the SOTA service, in July 2022, a campaign to intimidate users of VPN services began in Russian media and social networks. The authors of such publications labeled VPN services as the “problem of the year 2022” and claimed that they are responsible for data leaks.