Which VPNs work in 
Russia?
As of Jul 25, 2026, none of the 10 VPNs we track is cleanly working in Russia. 2 are partially working with the right settings; the table below shows what each one needs.
Working alternatives in Russia
No VPN is currently verified as working in Russia. We would rather say that than guess. Check back after the next weekly verification pass.
The situation in Russia
Russia escalated hard in 2026: WireGuard and OpenVPN are DPI-blocked nationwide since February, SOCKS5, VLESS, and L2TP since December 2025, and Roskomnadzor had restricted 469 VPN services by late February. OONI shows confirmed blocks of vendor sites rising through July 21 for every VPN we track. Seven of ten are blocked outright; the two degraded survivors (Mullvad and Proton) hang on via QUIC and Stealth obfuscation, with retries needed and day-to-day variability. Apps have been pulled from Russian app stores, so this column mostly helps users who installed and paid before entering.
Full status table for Russia
| VPN | Status | Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | blocked | medium | nordvpn.com confirmed blocked in-country; apps pulled from Russian app stores and no Russian servers since 2019; Roskomnadzor DPI blocks VPN protocols; an aggregator claim that NordWhisper may work in some cases has no dated in-country report behind it |
| Surfshark | blocked | medium | In the Roskomnadzor block registry since 2021; app pulled from Russian stores; TSPU DPI fingerprints WireGuard/OpenVPN so protocol switching is unlikely to help; no fresh in-country report confirms any method working in 2026 |
| ExpressVPN | blocked | medium | All four protocols (Lightway, OpenVPN UDP/TCP, IKEv2) carry known DPI signatures blocked at TSPU level; protocol cycling does not help; Russian sources describe a server lottery where an individual server occasionally connects briefly before reblocking; app login reported to fail from inside Russia |
| Proton VPN | degraded | low | WireGuard and OpenVPN blocked at DPI level nationwide since Feb 2026; only Stealth plus Alternative Routing has any chance and server IPs are also blocked, so repeated attempts are needed; site and app-store downloads unreachable from Russia, so this only helps users who installed and paid before |
| Private Internet Access | blocked | medium | Site confirmed-blocked on Rostelecom, Megafon, MTS; only offers OpenVPN and WireGuard, both DPI-blocked; Shadowsocks multi-hop fallback reported broken by in-country users since Sep 2024; no obfuscation mode |
| CyberGhost | blocked | medium | No obfuscation or stealth mode exists in the apps, so there is no workaround to offer; its protocols are exactly what TSPU DPI targets; cyberghostvpn.com confirmed blocked in-country so signup and download fail without existing circumvention |
| Windscribe | blocked | medium | On the Roskomnadzor blocklist; vendor KB recommends Stealth, WStunnel, or WireGuard on port 443 plus Circumvent Censorship and ships an AmneziaWG app for Russia, but no fresh in-country report confirms any of these connect; if one surfaces this cell should move to degraded |
| PureVPN | blocked | low | purevpn.com confirmed blocked in-country so signup, download, and payment fail without an existing tunnel; its protocol lineup in Russia (WireGuard/OpenVPN/IKEv2) is entirely DPI-blocked; no fresh in-country report of the tunnel working found anywhere |
| Mullvad | degraded | medium | Default WireGuard blocked; vendor guidance for Russia is QUIC or Shadowsocks obfuscation to European servers, with Shadowsocks hit-or-miss by ISP; OpenVPN fallback removed entirely Jan 2026; iOS app pulled from the Russian App Store so iOS is effectively unusable without a foreign Apple ID |
| Astrill | unverified | low | If Astrill passes TSPU DPI at all, it would be via StealthVPN (QUIC/UDP obfuscation); OpenVPN/WireGuard are DPI-blocked nationwide since Feb 2026. astrill.com itself measured anomalous from an ER-Telecom probe in June, so download/signup from inside Russia may fail even if the tunnel works. |
Legal status: Personal VPN use is not banned in Russia, but the state blocks noncompliant VPN services, banned promoting them in March 2024, and a law passed in July 2025 fines advertising VPNs up to 500,000 rubles and treats VPN use as an aggravating factor in crimes. (source)