Messaging, VPNs and blocking

• WhatsApp, Signal and Viber are blocked in Russia. Since April 2026 Telegram has been almost completely blocked in Russia and usually does not open without a VPN. Mobile internet gets shut down. Save your lawyer's and rights groups' contacts outside Telegram in advance: email, Delta Chat, phone.
• By law using a VPN is not banned. In practice, since 1 September 2025 art. 13.53 CAO fines people for deliberately searching for material on the extremist list, including through a VPN. Don't forward links to VPNs or VPN bots in chats: this can be treated as advertising tools for bypassing blocks (art. 14.3 CAO), and people are fined for it.
• Blocking comes in waves, so specialists advise keeping two or three VPNs of different types and updating them in advance, not when the shutdown hits.
• The state messenger MAX has no end-to-end encryption, so don't discuss anything sensitive on it. A school cannot make you install MAX.
• Detailed guides: First Line (digital security section) and EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense in Russian.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: Mediazona: Russia's internet censorship in 2026 (foreign agent); Forbes: law on fines for searching for extremist material; OVD-Info: MAX at school (extremist); EFF: Surveillance Self-Defense; Meduza: Telegram blocking in Russia reached 95% by 10 April 2026 (OONI data) (undesirable)