Russian ISPs are required to restrict access to a wide range of internet content on behalf of the Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal censorship body. Internet access is also heavily monitored in Russia, but using a VPN can help you get around the blocks while avoiding surveillance.
We’ve picked out the best VPNs for use in Russia from our stable of regularly tested VPNs. We’re drawing on decades of experience testing VPNs to bring you our best choices for accessing Russian content, as well as breaking through the Russian ISP blockade.
Based on our first-hand testing, we believe Mullvad offers the strongest privacy protections thanks to powerful Shadowsocks obfuscation and a staunch stance against taking user details of any type, even for payment purposes. However, Windscribe offers one thing Mullvad doesn’t: VPN servers inside Russia, making it a great alternative.
3 best Russia VPNs: quick overview
The 3 best Russia VPNs
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The best Russia VPN overall
Mullvad is synonymous with privacy. Based in Sweden, this VPN provider doesn’t want to know anything about you. When you sign up, you don’t provide an email or phone number — Mullvad doesn’t want any of your personal data at all. Instead, you receive a randomly generated account number that you can use to top up your subscription. That’s it.
Mullvad offers several different obfuscation techniques to disguise your internet traffic, as well as a guide to connecting to the internet from countries with restrictive internet policies. For Russia, Mullvad recommends that you stay away from LWO or UDP-over-TCP and stick to either QUIC or Shadowsocks.
Read more about Mullvad ▼
Mullvad removed its Russian servers in response to requests from the Roskomnadzor and currently has no plans to return. At the moment, Mullvad has 550+ VPN servers operating in 50 countries around the world. That’s fewer than the top-tier VPN providers we normally recommend, but the issue is that Russia is very aware of Mullvad’s efforts to provide VPN access inside Russia and regularly blocks the IP addresses of Mullvad’s servers.
This means that if Mullvad doesn’t immediately work, even with obfuscation enabled, you’ll need to bounce between servers until you find one that’s unblocked. You’ll be able to connect to nearby servers in the Baltics and central Europe without significantly slowing your connection down, but it’s best to take advantage of Mullvad’s multihop feature and chain two servers together. It might be slightly slower, but you’ll appreciate the added security knowing that even if the endpoint server you’re using is compromised, all it’ll show is that you’re connecting from a different Mullvad server.
As for privacy, Mullvad operates entirely on RAM-based servers and doesn't use persistent storage for your user data. Even if Mullvad’s servers were raided tomorrow, there are no hard drives for the authorities to pull out and examine.
Mullvad also uses WireGuard as its primary protocol, which uses the most modern cryptography techniques to encrypt your data. Perfect forward secrecy ensures that even if your current VPN key is compromised, it won’t allow hackers or the authorities to decrypt your traffic from other VPN sessions, as the encryption keys are regularly rotated.
Mullvad’s headquarters are based in Sweden, which means it’s inside the EU’s GDPR framework and firmly outside of the sphere of Russian influence. We do not know of any ties that Amagicom AB, Mullvad’s parent company, has to Russian ownership. While you should be aware that Sweden is part of the 14 Eyes intelligence alliance, Mullvad’s no-logs policy is about as air-tight as they come.
In fact, Mullvad regularly commissions audits of both its security posture and no-logs privacy policy. Most recently, Mullvad reached out to X41 D‑Sec GmbH to audit its payment backend in 2025 to identify any potential security or privacy issues with its service. The results of the audit confirmed that while there were some minor denial of service issues, Mullvad’s payment services are as private as claimed.
The best Russia VPN for unblocking
Windscribe is our first choice if you need a VPN inside Russia. It offers servers in both Moscow and St. Petersburg, which is rare among top-end VPNs. If you’re trying to access services inside Russia or watch Russian TV while you’re on holiday, we can’t think of a provider you’re better off using than Windscribe.
However, there’s a certain level of risk associated with using VPN servers based in Russia. While it doesn’t seem like Windscribe is complying with Russian demands based on how often the service is blocked, we can’t guarantee that using Windscribe’s servers inside Russia is perfectly safe. We’d recommend you use Windscribe’s double hop feature, which allows you to connect to an intermediary server before forwarding your connection to a Russian server, just for added protection.
Read more about Windscribe ▼
Unfortunately, Windscribe’s double hop implementation isn’t quite as easy to use as most top-tier VPNs. You’ll need to download the browser plugin for Windscribe and connect through that, as there’s no native client implementation of double hop yet, despite Windscribe’s reassurances that it’s on the way.
Windscribe’s OpenVPN obfuscation comes in two flavours: Stealth, which uses OpenVPN inside a TLS tunnel via Stunnel, and WStunnel, which upgrades how closely your OpenVPN connection mimics web traffic by using WebSocket. It also offers AmneziaWG, which makes WireGuard harder to detect by randomizing key parts of the protocol that deep packet inspection uses to identify WireGuard traffic.
Windscribe also uses diskless servers with RAM-only storage, so your data can’t be extracted if the authorities break into Windscribe’s server farms. That’s reassuring if you’re using Windscribe’s Russia VPN servers, as the Russian government is notorious for strongarming VPN providers into complying with its requests.
While Windscribe is based in Canada, which puts it squarely inside the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, this also means that it’s completely outside of Russia’s jurisdiction. Russia may have a legal case against Windscribe for offering VPN servers inside Russia without obeying the Roskomnadzor’s regulation requests, but in practice, Windscribe is unlikely to hand over data to the Russian government.
As for payment processing, Windscribe doesn’t have quite the same level of paranoia as Mullvad when it comes to handling your payment details. Normally, we’d say that Mullvad’s approach could be overkill, but in this case, we’d definitely say we prefer a provider that handles as little of your personal data as possible.
In fact, we’ve found that many Russian users can only pay for Windscribe through an intermediary payment service called VPNPay. Windscribe provides extensive documentation on how to pay with this service if payment processors are blocking your access to Windscribe.
As a last resort, Windscribe also offers a free service with a bandwidth cap that you can use if you’re out of options. The free trial is fully featured, so you should be able access content from outside of Russia just as you would under the paid version, so give it a try before you use the full VPN.
The best cheap Russia VPN
VyprVPN isn’t the best all-around VPN we’ve seen, but it’s on our list for one particular reason. Its in-house Chameleon protocol has been built from the ground up to enable VPN connections in regions where ISPs use aggressive VPN blocking to comply with government censorship laws.
This means Vyper isn’t just a great solution for beating censorship in Russia; it’s also designed to step around blocks in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey. Vypr has even had success in getting around the Great Firewall, making it one of the few VPNs worth checking out if you’re looking for a China VPN.
Read more about VyprVPN ▼
When you connect to VyprVPN, you’re always connecting to in-house server infrastructure owned directly by Vypr. There are no third-party arrangements with hosting providers, which is particularly important if you’re connecting in a region like Russia, where the government has a history of leaning on hosting providers for user data.
Although Vypr’s 700+ servers in 70+ countries worldwide aren’t as impressive as the likes of NordVPN or ExpressVPN, Vypr offers IPs in countries you won’t get from larger providers, including geolocated IPs for Moscow.
By offering geolocated IPs using virtual servers, VyprVPN allows you access to Russian web services without worrying about the legal or privacy implications of hosting physical hardware inside of Russia. While it might be a little slower than Mullvad’s approach, you’re really getting the best of all worlds this way.
Chameleon is VyprVPN’s shining crown jewel when it comes to features. It’s a VPN protocol that works at the packet level, changing OpenVPN’s metadata so that deep packet inspection can’t identify that a VPN connection is taking place. The underlying OpenVPN implementation remains the same, so you’ve still got all of the same encryption guarantees as if you were using vanilla OpenVPN.
On top of Chameleon, VyprVPN also uses a Smart IP system, which regularly rotates the IP you’re using. It’s much like Surfshark’s Nexus IP Rotation feature, but instead of focusing on evading internet surveillance by advertisers, Smart IP ensures that deep packet inspection can’t identify that you’re using a VPN by focusing on the time you’re connected to any one IP address.
As you’d expect, VyprVPN also operates under an audited no-logs policy, which keeps your internet traffic out of their hands. VyprVPN was the very first VPN company to publicly disclose a no-logs audit back in 2018, but since then, it seems it has been content to let that accolade sit. Mullvad and Windscribe both commission regular audits, not just to show that their no-logs policies are still functional, but also to identify potential security issues with their services.
Which VPNs don’t work in Russia?
You’ll notice that our list of top Russian VPNs differs significantly from our usual “Best VPN” lists, and for good reason. While providers like NordVPN and ExpressVPN are great as all-around VPN picks, they’ve become increasingly unreliable inside Russia as the Roskomnadzor has intensified crackdowns on popular VPNs.
Using a VPN inside Russia is not outright illegal. However, in 2017, Russia expanded on the types of content it demands that ISPs restrict access to. Any website that demonstrates how to get around ISPs' blocks was essentially banned. This, of course, extends to VPN services as well. However, instead of banning VPN services, Russia demanded that VPN providers comply with legislation by cooperating with the Roskomnadzor.
The Roskomandzor requires any VPN provider operating inside Russia to connect to the Federal State Information System and block access to prohibited websites. Even worse, it also requires any VPN provider to hand over information on who is visiting which websites.
Of course, most major VPN providers simply refused to comply with Russia’s demands. NordVPN shut down its Russian servers in 2019 as a result, making a pointed argument that any compliance with the Russian government’s demands would fundamentally undermine the security and privacy of its service.
Although ExpressVPN has experimented with Russian servers in the last few years, it seems there are no long-term plans for Express to offer access to Russia at the moment. Surfshark has also turned off its Russian servers as part of a financial boycott against the Russian state.
Needless to say, trying to find a provider that still offers servers inside Russia is tricky. The Roskomnadzor has also restricted access to hundreds of VPNs from inside Russia. Apple has removed many VPN apps from the Russian app store as a result of government requests. Even if you can get your hands on a VPN inside Russia, deep packet inspection used by ISPs automatically blocks outward connections used by VPN clients.
The way Russian ISPs block VPN traffic is by identifying the distinctive characteristics VPN protocols like OpenVPN and WireGuard display when opening a connection. Even though these packets are encrypted, an ISP can see that it’s VPN traffic.
There are several different approaches obfuscation protocols use to hide these characteristics, although it’s most common to wrap the underlying VPN traffic inside a second encrypted protocol that looks less suspicious. Usually, it’s just plain old HTTPS traffic. From the ISP’s perspective, it looks like you’re just connecting to an encrypted website.
Without powerful obfuscation tech, you’re unlikely to be able to use a VPN in Russia. Even our top recommended VPN services aren’t guaranteed to work, which is why we’ve focused on VPNs that offer obfuscation protocols designed to disguise your VPN traffic as normal, day-to-day internet browsing traffic.
Is using a VPN in Russia dangerous?
Using a VPN in Russia carries a real legal risk. For the most part, the Russian government is focused primarily on going after VPN providers instead of average VPN users.
However, if you’re trying to access content related to independent media outlets, opposition groups, or human rights organizations, you’re playing with fire. New laws introduced in 2025 make it far easier for the Russian government to prosecute you if you’re using a VPN.
Russian citizens can be fined for “knowingly searching for or accessing extremist materials”. Using a VPN can also be treated as an “aggravating circumstance” in other criminal trials, potentially increasing the severity of your sentence if you’re brought before a Russian court.
Whether or not you’re likely to face repercussions for using a VPN depends on how closely the government is already looking at you. VPN usage is still widespread in Russia despite the risks. For most people, it’s just a way to access Western social media and services. Encrypting your connection to access these sites isn’t going to automatically trigger prosecution against you.
Either way, the technical reality is that when you use a VPN with appropriate encryption, your ISP can’t see the websites you visit or the content you access. The VPNs we’ve outlined offer genuine no-logs policies and vetted encryption with strong obfuscation strategies.
The laws surrounding VPN use are designed to encourage self-censorship by creating a climate of fear, but with proper obfuscation, it’s hard to tell you’re using a VPN at all, let alone inspect the encrypted VPN traffic.
Best Russia VPN FAQs
Why don’t VPNs work in Russia?
VPNs don’t work in Russia because the Russian government requires any VPN provider operating within the country to hand over user data and internet traffic to the authorities on demand. This completely undermines the point of a VPN, which is why most VPN companies have chosen to leave Russia rather than comply with the requirements.
On a technical level, the Roskomnadzor requires that every ISP in Russia install deep packet inspection systems that identify and block VPN protocols from connecting.
OpenVPN, WireGuard, and IKEv2 do not use obfuscation by default, so it’s fairly easy to identify these protocols. Russia also blocks access to individual IPs that are associated with VPN servers, making obfuscation less effective if a VPN doesn’t regularly rotate its IP pool.
Is NordVPN blocked in Russia?
NordVPN is effectively blocked in Russia. As a result of demands made by the Roskomnadzor to allow Russian authorities to access NordVPN’s servers, NordVPN shuttered its VPN servers inside Russia on April 1st 2019. Without a significant shift in existing Russian law, it’s very unlikely that NordVPN will host servers inside the country again, as doing so would violate its approach to online safety and privacy.
If you’re already inside Russia, NordVPN is unlikely to work even if you’re using obfuscation. Instead, you should try Mullvad, Windscribe, or VyprVPN, as these VPNs have all had some level of success in bypassing Russian ISP blocks using obfuscation techniques.
Should I make my own VPN for Russia?
There are several reasons why it’s a bad idea to run your own VPN for use in Russia. While you can create your own VPN by renting a server through a cloud provider and installing VPN software on it, doing so means that you’re leaving a paper trail showing that the server is registered to you. Your ISP can see that you’re connecting to it, and may pass that information on to the authorities, who could identify you through the payments you’ve made.
There’s also the technical issue. Russia’s approach to blocking VPN services doesn’t just keep commercial VPN providers out of Russia. Their ISPs use deep packet inspection to identify VPN protocols like OpenVPN or WireGuard. If you’re not using obfuscation, there’s little point to running your own server.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
