Russia's Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said the government was seeking to reduce the use of virtual private networks and had decided to restrict access to additional unidentified foreign platforms as part of a broader tightening of internet controls, Reuters reported on March 31. The messaging platform Telegram is also widely expected to face a full nationwide ban starting April 1, according to multiple Russian media reports, though officials have not formally confirmed the timeline.

Since 2022, Russia has expanded censorship and surveillance tools, including blocking major foreign platforms, testing "white list"-based internet access during outages and deploying deep packet inspection systems, which enable authorities to monitor and filter internet traffic in real time based on content. In 2025, Russia introduced the MAX messaging app, which was developed by VK, a major Russian tech company with close ties to the state. VPN use is widespread, with estimates suggesting around 50% of Russia's internet users may use these services by the end of 2026.