- Head of Russia’s Human Rights Council admits banning VPNs is ‘impossible’
- Attempting to block all VPNs would disrupt businesses and banks
- The official still condemned citizens who use VPNs to access blocked media
A Kremlin official has publicly admitted that completely blocking virtual private networks (VPNs) in Russia is “simply impossible” and admitted that it could have a catastrophic impact on the country’s digital infrastructure.
The surprising admission comes from Valery Fadeev, the head of Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council – an advisory body that consults the Kremlin on civil liberties.
Speaking to Russian business news company RBC, Fadeev noted that while the government denies that citizens use best VPNs bypassing state censorship, technically exterminating them is a bridge too far.
The reality is that the modern digital economy relies heavily on cybersecurity protection and remote access from VPNs. Blocking them outright would not just stop citizens from reading independent news. It would also disrupt critical operations for financial institutions and the technology sector.
“I don’t really understand how to regulate VPNs, because it became clear to everyone pretty quickly that this is an extremely complex system and that it is simply impossible to ban or shut down VPNs,” Fadeev told RBC, according to an English translation published by independent Russian news media. Jellyfish.
“If you try to shut everything down, the whole huge internet system can simply break down. That’s obvious.”
The economic costs of an internet shutdown
Fadeev noted that this technical reality is now “clear to everyone, although specialists understood it a long time ago.” He warned that a blanket VPN shutdown would have a severe impact on businesses, banks and “programmers who download code.”
However, Fadeev remains highly critical of people who use the privacy tools to evade internet censorship. He told RBC that he “never said VPNs should be shut down,” but criticized “certain Russian citizens” who use circumvention tools to access independent reporting and TV channels blocked in the country.
“It is worth remembering that some of these media are working for the enemy, they are not an alternative source,” Fadeev said. “Some of them have been designated as foreign agents, others as undesirable organizations.”
“What you find there is not alternative information, but enemy propaganda. This is not a legal issue, not an issue of some kind of restriction, this is an issue of civic awareness.”
A question of “civic awareness”
The Kremlin has waged an escalating war on internet freedom, routinely blocking independent outlets and trying to limit access to circumvention tools. Fadeev, who claims he does not use a VPN himself, previously referred to VPN use as “something unnatural” and argued that citizens who use them are looking for “what the enemy is saying.”
While many – including Telegram CEO Pavel Durov – have criticized Russia’s attempts to restrict access to VPNs, Fadeev rejected accusations of undermining freedom of expression.
Specifically, he accused “part of the Russian intelligentsia” of equating internet restrictions with attacks on free speech, arguing that online censorship is necessary because Ukrainian forces are “attacking many Russian cities.”
Despite the intense crackdown on VPNs, several apps appear to still be operating, with BlancVPN, AmneziaVPN and VPN Liberty among those adapting and continuing to operate in the country.
