Over the last week, the Russian authorities have likely increased their ongoing efforts to disrupt Russian citizens’ access to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in an attempt to pervasive domestic information control, British intelligence said in its daily report.
According to UK intel, many of the most popular VPNs have become unusable in some regions of Russia.
“VPNs are hugely popular in Russia, despite being illegal since 2017. They allow users to access objective international news sources, including about the war in Ukraine.”
VPNs likely represent the greatest single vulnerability within the Russian state’s attempts at pervasive domestic information control, UK intel concluded.
As well as increased technical disruption, the Russian state has launched a public information campaign, attempting to scare citizens into avoiding VPNs by claiming they put their personal data at risk, intel said.
Related:
- Since its February invasion, Russia ramped up its internet censorship machine
- Disinformation and censorship: Two sides of the same Russian coin
- The “Odesa Massacre”: a crown jewel in Russia’s genocidal anti-Ukrainian propaganda
- Russians exhibit children whose mother killed in Mariupol at Moscow propaganda concert
- Four towers of Kremlin propaganda: Russia, Ukraine, South, West
Read Also
-
The Trump administration is backing Orbán, who blocked a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine, for UN secretary-general and is counting on support from Moscow and Beijing, WSJ says
-
Ukraine plans to rebuild its air force on NATO’s model by 2035. Its Air Force already knows which fighter it wants next, and why
-
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy welcomes Student List’s win in Serbia and says Kyiv is “ready to keep increasing cooperation”
