(virtual private network) services from the Russian App Store. In consequence, Apple has reportedly canceled 25 VPN services from the country’s App Store.
The Roskomnadzor was founded in December 2008, and it is responsible for supervising, managing, and censoring the Russian mass media. Its controlling attributions involve digital media, all mass communications, and telecommunications technology. It also makes sure that the law is followed and applied in this field, and that the processed personal information is protected.
As Russian governmental organizations restrict people’s access to most of Europe’s Internet content, such as news or social media, VPN services are in high demand throughout the nation. The same happens to the government's opposition public statements or any information that doesn’t support the Kremlin’s politics. Russian authorities stop this type of information from entering through Russians’ IP addresses and VPN services allow this to happen by masking the web browser’s location.
Even more so, Roskomnadzor’s representative informed Interfax news agency that the blocked VPN services involve some well-known apps, such as NordVPN, Proton VPN, Red Shield VPN, and Planet VPN. Also, a couple of services, including Red Shield VPN and LeVPN, approved last week, that their programs are not available anymore for Russian Apple users, sharing a capture of the message they got from Apple. The alleged reason Apple has made this decision is the nonconformity with local legal policy.
As a consequence, Red Shield VPN came with the following statement via X, last week: “Apple's action is not just fantastic hypocrisy and cowardice, but a real crime against freedom of information and civil society. Over the past six years, Russian authorities have blocked thousands of Red Shield VPN nodes but have been unable to prevent Russian users from accessing them.
Apple, however, has done this job much more effectively for them.” The VPN service company also encouraged people to organize a petition about it and try to make Apple revoke its decision. Apple hasn’t publically made any comments about it yet.
On the other hand, LeVPN said that it contacted Roskomnadzor, demanding clarifications and trying to get an appeal regarding the decision. It also stated that they had begun the collaboration with human rights activists, hoping that they could change the situation. Another measure LeVPN adopted was to launch a service that allows users to connect to its servers by using special software and overshadowed VPN connections.
This Roskomnadzor success came after other two attempts to block the VPN services last August and September. Since March, it also has the potential to cancel the websites that show people how to enter general banned media and websites. Another practice the Russian Government adopted is to turn off communication channels during protests or important social events, hoping that would prevent people from gathering or planning something that might be problematic for the regime. WhatsApp and Telegram apps faced this back in January when the access of users from the Bashkortostan region was canceled during a big protest against the imprisonment of a local Russian activists
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