Marketplaces Ozon and Wildberries, as well as services of the VkusVill retail chain, have begun restricting access to their websites for users of VPN services and other tools used to bypass blocks. Izvestia reported this, citing sources in retail.
According to the newspaper, the marketplace sites and VkusVill’s website have started working unstably when accessed through a number of popular VPN services. The pages themselves remain accessible, but product cards, images, and descriptions may fail to load.
At the same time, without VPN clients, the sites continue to open normally even outside Russia, Izvestia emphasizes. The newspaper’s market sources confirm that this may involve deliberate traffic filtering.
Experts warn that such measures could increase the risk of disruptions during purchases and also create problems with delivering goods abroad. One industry representative said this could put additional pressure on the market, from logistics to demand.
In addition, if part of the audience is unable even to browse products, this will inevitably affect conversion and platform turnover, Izvestia writes.
Completely blocking VPN use is technically difficult, a source told the newspaper. According to the source, the current measures involve targeted restrictions on the most popular services and their free versions.
At the end of March, 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 remain accessible with VPN enabled may be removed from “white lists,” Kommersant claims. According to the publication, those companies were also threatened with removal from the Ministry of Digital Development’s IT register. That would mean firms could lose access to IT mortgages, deferments from compulsory military service, tax benefits, and other preferences.