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- Head of Russia's Human Rights Council admits banning VPNs is "impossible"
- Attempting to block all VPNs would disrupt businesses and banks
- The official still condemned citizens using VPNs to access blocked media
A Kremlin official has publicly conceded that completely blocking Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in Russia is "simply impossible" and admitted that doing so could catastrophically impact the country's digital infrastructure.
The surprising admission comes from Valery Fadeev, the head of Russia's Presidential Human Rights Council — an advisory body that consults the Kremlin on civil liberties.
Speaking to the Russian business news outlet RBC, Fadeev noted that while the government disapproves of citizens using the best VPNs to bypass state censorship, technically eradicating them is a bridge too far.
The reality is that the modern digital economy relies heavily on the cybersecurity protections and remote access provided by VPNs. Blocking them outright wouldn't just stop citizens from reading independent news. It would also disrupt critical operations for financial institutions and the tech sector.
"I don't really understand how to regulate VPNs, because it became clear to everyone fairly quickly that this is an extremely complex system and that banning or switching off VPNs is simply impossible," Fadeev told RBC, according to an English translation published by independent Russian news outlet Meduza.
"If you try to shut everything down, the entire vast internet system could simply be broken. That's obvious."
The economic cost of an internet shutdown
Fadeev noted that this technical reality is now "clear to everyone, though specialists understood it long ago." He warned that a blanket VPN shutdown would severely impact businesses, banks, and "programmers who download code."
However, Fadeev remains highly critical of people using the privacy tools to evade internet censorship. He told RBC he has "never said that VPNs should be shut down," but criticized "certain Russian citizens" who use circumvention tools to access independent reporting and television channels blocked within the country.
"It's worth remembering that some of these media outlets work for the enemy, they are not an alternative source," Fadeev said. "Some of them have been designated as foreign agents, others as undesirable organizations."
"What you find there is not alternative information but enemy propaganda. This is not a legal question, not a matter of some kind of restriction, it’s a question of civic consciousness."
A question of "civic consciousness"
The Kremlin has waged an escalating war against internet freedom, routinely blocking independent outlets and attempting to curb access to circumvention tools. Fadeev, who claims he does not use a VPN himself, previously referred to VPN usage as "something unnatural," arguing that citizens using them are looking for "what the enemy is saying."
While many — including Telegram CEO Pavel Durov — have criticized Russia's attempts to restrict access to VPNs, Fadeev rejected accusations of undermining free speech.
Specifically, he accused "part of the Russian intelligentsia" of equating internet restrictions with attacks on free speech, arguing that online censorship is necessary because Ukrainian forces "are striking many Russian cities."
Despite the intense crackdown on VPNs, several apps appear to still be working, with BlancVPN, AmneziaVPN and VPN Liberty among those adapting and continuing to operate in the country.
