- Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development confirmed that it has completely dropped its plan to charge users for international internet traffic.
- The proposal initially aimed to charge users about 150 rubles per additional gigabyte after a monthly allowance of 15 GB.
- Demand for tools to bypass censorship remains at an all-time high as the Kremlin continues its broader push against digital privacy.
Internet users in Russia can breathe a sigh of relief as the government has abandoned its controversial plan to tax international mobile traffic.
The proposal, which was heavily targeted at those who use the best VPN services to bypass government censorship, would have forced residents to pay high premiums to access a free and open internet.
The political turn was confirmed during a recent State Duma session by Deputy Minister of Digital Development Ivan Lebedev.
In response to parliamentary questions about the initiative by Communist Party lawmaker Oleg Smolin, Lebedev stated categorically: “Fees for foreign traffic are not considered,” according to reports from Meduza.io.
First introduced during a meeting in late March between Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev and domestic telecom operators, the plan aimed to hit the wallets of privacy-conscious users.
Because Russian carriers inherently classify VPN data routing as international traffic, the government intended to implement a strict 15-gigabyte monthly cap. According to the first reports from the BBC’s Russian service, the authorities intended to charge users around 150 rubles for each additional gigabyte consumed beyond this limit.
The sudden U-turn comes after months of ongoing logistical hurdles and industry setbacks. The tax was originally supposed to take effect on May 1, but was subsequently postponed to June 1, according to the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported that providers were not ready to configure their billing systems.
The deadline was later pushed back to “closer to fall” or after the September election, before finally being scrapped altogether.
As previously reported by TechRadar, an inside source confirmed that Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, lacks the technical capabilities to effectively prevent citizens from using VPNs on a large scale.
A temporary victory in a wider digital crackdown
While the scrapped tax is a definite win for privacy advocates, it remains just one battle in an increasingly hostile digital war.
Russian demand for circumvention tools has increased dramatically following the state-ordered blocking of major global platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Without a VPN, everyday citizens are largely cut off from independent news sources and international social networks.
Instead of relying solely on economic deterrents, the Kremlin has steadily escalated its technical and regulatory attacks to close the loopholes.
In mid-April, authorities successfully pressured major domestic internet platforms to comply with new rules, actively restricting users from accessing their websites and apps while a VPN was activated.
Cyber security experts have also repeatedly warned of more drastic state-led interventions aimed at completely isolating the country’s internet infrastructure from the rest of the world.
For now, millions of citizens continue to rely on robust data protection tools to safely navigate the web and maintain digital contact with the outside world. If you find yourself dealing with this restrictive landscape, it’s more crucial than ever to learn exactly how to survive Russia’s VPN crackdown.
