'VPNs have adapted': How Blanc VPN and VPN Liberty are dodging Russia's VPN blocking technology to allow Russians access to Telegram without losing everyday services | Tech Radar
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'VPNs have adapted': How Blanc VPN and VPN Liberty are dodging Russia's VPN blocking technology to allow Russians access to Telegram without losing everyday services
They are the best-performing VPNs in Russia right now despite ongoing attempts to crack down on VPNs.
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As Russia continues to crack down on VPN usage, some censorship-resistant providers seem to be resisting the latest wave of restrictions.
In a post on X shared on Monday (April 27), Maxim Katz, a prominent Russian opposition figure who tracks VPN connectivity in the region, recorded that the most popular VPN services in Russia "are working just fine overall," arguing that "VPNs have adapted."
As per the latest data, Blanc VPN and VPN Liberty are the VPNs performing best, both on home Wi-Fi routers and mobile connections.
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Katz launched its "VPN Traffic Light" project on March 18, 2026, to help residents track daily performances of popular VPN apps in the region and choose the most reliable services. Something that Katz deems "complicated" for people right now. "Even good VPNs sometimes don't work well in Russia," he told Tech Radar.
The Kremlin blocked the website less than a month after its creation, on April 9. Despite this, Katz assures Tech Radar that visitors from Russia have never been higher. "In Russia, everyone knows how to go through these blockages," he added.
While VPN performance changes daily, Katz's announcement likely comes as a relief for Russia's residents. As the internet gets more censored, VPNs have indeed become a lifeline for people in the country.
Most recently, Russians were forced to use VPNs to access Telegram, the latest social media to be restricted by Roskomnadzor, Russia's censorship agency.
Authorities are working hard to reverse this trend of circumvention — but the tech seems to continue outsmarting the politics.
Most Western VPNs are well-known for not working in Russia. Tunnel Bear, for example, is consistently flagged as "not working" across all types of internet connections on Katz's list.
According to Katz, this is because Russia isn't the main market for mainstream services; hence, many of these don't usually focus their resources on keeping up with the constant changes in Russian censors' detection and blocking techniques.
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"For this reason, the most popular VPN in Russia are made by Russians living abroad. And these VPNs work specifically in making the internet work for Russians," Katz told Tech Radar.
ВПНы приспособились и в последние дни почти все в целом норм работают https://t.co/h 0mq BIAHep pic.twitter.com/j AChvk Ko Ww April 27, 2026
ВПНы приспособились и в последние дни почти все в целом норм работают https://t.co/h 0mq BIAHep pic.twitter.com/j AChvk Ko Ww April 27, 2026
Blanc VPN, the company explains on its website, is a project launched in 2018 as a "Telegram proxy solution" to protect freedom of speech in countries such as Russia and Iran, where Telegram faces restrictions.
Over the years, the team has been working on its censorship-resistant abilities. In 2021, for example, it added support for the Outline protocol and, two years later, also for the open-source obfuscated V2 Ray proxy.
Now, in its latest Android update released on April 14, Blanc VPN added new features designed to evade the ongoing Russian blocks.
These include two specialized VPN protocols (Xray and Xray Extra) and a "Disable VPN for Russian services" option to let users open local banking apps, marketplaces, and government sites without a VPN. Similar tools landed on i OS on April 15.
Through its Telegram channel, Armenia-based VPN Liberty is also constantly offering guidance and new tools to help Russian residents navigate the complicated online landscape.
The latest round of releases was rolled out today (April 29) and includes an upgrade to its current solution against what's known as 'whitelisting.' That refers to a more disruptive censorship technique that blocks content, communication, or internet access by default. The improved version is now live on Android, with i OS support still in development.
Similar to Blanc VPN, VPN Liberty also added a new way to exclude Russian websites from the VPN tunnel, without the need for manual configuration.
Even good VPNs sometimes don't work well in Russia Maxim Katz
Amnezia VPN, a provider we often see to be reliable in Russia, appears to be working only on certain mobile connections as of today. When we checked on Tuesday (April 28), Katz's data flagged it as "partially working."
That said, the team at Amnezia VPN is also constantly boosting its censorship-resistant features.
At the end of March, for example, it released a more powerful version of its flagship stealth protocol, Amnezia WG, exactly to keep the internet accessible in highly censored regions.
We have contacted Amnezia VPN for comments, and we will update the page as more information becomes available.
That said, these constant changes in VPN connectivity levels are a stark reminder that no solution is guaranteed to work forever. Exactly the reason why Telegram's CEO, Pavel Durov, urges people in the country to "stock up on VPNs."
As more people turn to VPN services — Novaya Gazeta reported that VPN downloads are 14 times higher than last year — the Kremlin has been doubling down on its crackdown, as hard as ever before.
At the end of March, Russia's Minister of Digital Development, Maksut Shadaev, announced a new plan to "reduce VPN usage." This includes new blocking obligations for Russian internet service providers and even some fees for VPN users.
Starting April 15, major providers are required to actively detect and block VPNs to avoid having their IT accreditation revoked. The introduction of VPN fees, however, has been delayed for alleged "technical hurdles."
Earlier this week, local news outlet Meduza reported that Shadaev claimed that VPN blocking is necessary to protect Russians' personal data. Another report cites the Head of Russia’s Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, Valery Fadeyev, deeming VPN use as "something unnatural."
A recent State Duma proposal is also considering creating a 'whitelist' of approved VPNs to minimize inconvenience for citizens and businesses who rely on stable internet connections for work.
The Kremlin's fight against VPN usage has officially entered a new phase. Yet, Katz remains hopeful that the tech would remain stronger than the politics.
"The VPN industry is a rich and profitable business that hires the best technical people to fight Roskomnadzor," Katz told Tech Radar, arguing that "nobody wants to work" for Roskomnadzor. "They can hire somebody, but the level of their side remains lower than the level of our side," he added.
A constant cat-and-mouse game, then, that — for now, at least — the VPN industry seems to keep finding ways to remain a step ahead.
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Chiara is a multimedia journalist committed to covering stories to help promote the rights and denounce the abuses of the digital side of life – wherever cybersecurity, markets, and politics tangle up. She believes an open, uncensored, and private internet is a basic human need and wants to use her knowledge of VPNs to help readers take back control. She writes news, interviews, and analysis on data privacy, online censorship, digital rights, tech policies, and security software, with a special focus on VPNs, for Tech Radar and Tech Radar Pro. Got a story, tip-off, or something tech-interesting to say? Reach out to chiara.castro@futurenet.com
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