Russian IT companies whose websites remain accessible when VPN is enabled may be removed from the Ministry of Digital Development’s IT registry. Kommersant reports this, citing sources.
According to the publication, the FSB may be granted the authority to submit proposals to the ministry to revoke IT companies’ accreditation. The main justification is described as “violations of information security requirements for access to such platforms.”
Participants in the discussion say these requirements are understood as a ban on accessing websites and other information resources using VPN.
At present, about 20,000 market participants are included in the Ministry of Digital Development’s IT company registry, Kommersant notes. This status gives them access to benefits including IT mortgages, deferments from compulsory military service, tax preferences, and other support measures. Developers on this list are exempt from VAT and also receive a reduced corporate profit tax rate. If a company is removed from the registry, it will lose all of these benefits.
In addition, such companies may lose the right to have their applications preinstalled on devices sold in Russia. That right will remain only if the company’s platforms do not function when VPN is enabled.
On March 1, 2024, a law banning the promotion of VPN services came into force in Russia. In the same year, Apple began removing VPN apps from the Russian App Store at the request of Roskomnadzor.
Recently, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev said that the authorities “face the task of reducing VPN use in Russia.”
According to Forbes, the Ministry of Digital Development urged the “big four” mobile operators to introduce charges for the use of VPN services. Companies whose websites function when VPN is enabled will be removed from the “whitelists,” Kommersant claims.