Since April 15, many Russian online services have started malfunctioning for users with VPN enabled. Marketplaces, banks, online cinemas and mobile operators have reported disruptions and access limits. In the apps of Ozon and Wildberries, users see notices about restricted access, while Yandex Pay explicitly says that logging in with a VPN is impossible due to a regulator’s requirement.
Media outlets also reported warnings in the apps of MTS, MegaFon and Beeline. Problems arise even with split tunneling, when only part of the traffic goes through a VPN. At the same time, service performance depends on the specific IP address and server: according to IT expert Leonid Yuldashev, the same website may fail to open with a German VPN but work with a Spanish one.
Yuldashev told Novaya-Europe that there is still no single reliable way to detect VPN use. On iOS, apps have limited direct access to such data, while on Android they can request active network parameters. In his view, many platforms are now relying primarily on IP addresses.
A separate risk concerns privacy. According to a study by RKS Global, 22 of the 30 most popular Russian Android apps track whether a VPN is enabled, and 19 of them send that information to their servers. Some services are also said to detect the list of VPN apps installed on a device.
“This is not a security story. It is a privacy story,” Yuldashev said.
He added that in 2026 there is no visible scenario in which VPN use itself would trigger immediate consequences for a user, but systematic collection of such data could make it easier to pressure circumvention services in the future.
Reports about a possible easing of internet restrictions have not been confirmed so far. According to OONI Explorer, apps previously blocked in Russia still remain inaccessible without circumvention tools, and researchers see no signs that the blocking has weakened.