Russia’s censorship agency demands that VPN services comply with its list of blocked websites

Roskomnadzor, the agency responsible for communications regulation and censorship in Russia, announced today that it contacted a number of VPN services to request that they subscribe to the agency’s registry of websites that are banned from distribution on Russian territory. Though Roskomnadzor has blocked VPN services before and asked Internet service providers to comply with its registry of blocked sites, this is the first time it has made the same demands of VPN providers.

The agency’s announcement mentions several popular services: NordVPN, Hide My Ass!, Hola VPN, Openvpn, VyprVPN, ExpressVPN, TorGuard, IPVanish, Kaspersky Secure Connection и VPN Unlimited. Openvpn is not technically a VPN service, but it allows users to create a VPN network.

Roskomnadzor has given the services contacted 30 business days to fulfill its demands. The agency’s press secretary, Vadim Ampelonsky, told Interfax that companies that do not comply may see access to their services limited in Russia.