VPN Purge from Russian official app stores continues, with smaller providers becoming the new target for Apple and Google.
Between 15 and 16 May 2025, Samsung and Xiaomi removed both Adguard VPN application at Roskomnadzor’s demand. At least one more VPN provider, Hidmyname VPN, has also been removed from the Huawei store in Russia and China -a Russian VPN Digital Rights Group, VPN Guild, confirmed to Techradar.
“Removal of VPN apps from App stores marks clear escalation in Russia’s crashes on digital privacy tools,” said VPN -Guild President Alexey Kozliuk.
Not an isolated incident
The recent events, explains Kozliuk, are not isolated events, but part of a broader, ongoing campaign to block Russian citizens’ access to uncensored information and control internet use.
In October 2023, for example, Hidmyname filed the first trial against the Kremlin’s notorious censorship regulator Roskomnadzor. In January 2024, the authorities considered the VPN provider as a “foreign agent.”
In March 2024, the government then passed a new law to criminalize the spread of information on ways of bypassing Internet restrictions. This is probably the legal basis on which the Russian censorship began to issue these removal of requirements for tech companies.
From July 2024 onwards, Apple has removed at least 60 VPN apps, including Adguard VPN, a popular Russian service, and Amnezia VPN, along with some of the best VPN services on the market. This brought the total toll to nearly 100 VPN apps that were not available in Russia’s App Store.
While Google appears mostly resistant to these requirements so far, recent data shows that at least 53 VPNs are also currently not available in the Google Play store in Russia.
Now, the targets’ targets are also expanded towards smaller app shop providers.
“We see a coordinated clamp across platforms, limiting users’ ability to bypass restrictions,” Kozliuk said. “What is particularly about is the growing role of global tech companies in enforcing local censorship, whether under direct state pressure or as a preventative compliance.”
Greatfire’s campaign and lawyer director, Benjamin Ismail, also shared the same concerns. Through the organization’s project AppCensorship, Ismail and the team have been busy monitoring a staggering increase in these VPN removal across both Apple and Google’s official app stores.
While this is the first time Ismail has heard of such an incident involving Samsung’s Galaxy App Store, he told Techradar that a way that a smaller provider (F-DROID) was also hit by a similar request in 2024.
According to Ismail, this could mean that Roskomnadzor has understood that it can try its luck to put pressure on tech suppliers. “Smaller providers may be able to fight more to resist these requirements as the prospect of becoming fully inaccessible in Russia can be a problem for these platforms,” he added.
VPNs remain a critical line of defense for digital freedom
Alexey Kozliuk, VPN Guild President
This is precisely why experts have long claimed that Big Tech giants who have the funds and resources must maintain their user’s human rights and challenge the Kremlin censorship requests.
In comments on this point, Kozliuk of VPN Guild said: “This emphasizes the urgent need to give users more control and make them less dependent on centralized platforms and app ecosystems as well as the need for stronger international advocate for keeping technological platforms in charge.
“As political tensions rise, especially around elections or protests, these crashes are likely to intensify – and VPNs will remain a critical line of defense for digital freedom.”
