Updated: March 9, 2022

Internet controls in Russia have been tightening over the past year with the notable blocking of six VPN providers in the fall of 2021, including popular commercial VPNs ExpressVPN and NordVPN. Beginning December 1st, 2021, access to the Tor network in Russia was also reported to be blocked across several ISPs by OONI.

Over the past several weeks VPN use in both Russia and Ukraine has reportedly skyrocketed surrounding the invasion of Ukraine and as access to Facebook and Twitter, local Russian news outlets and international media outlets has been restricted. There have been additional reports of Apple’s AppStore and Google’s Play Store being blocked, limiting Russian users’ access to circumvention tools that might allow access to the open Internet.

Most recently, Russia’s parliament passed a new censorship law enabling the prosecution and potential imprisonment of any individuals sharing information about Russia’s military deemed to be false or discrediting.

Amid this increased censorship and restricted access to tools enabling Russian users to access the open Internet, we put together a list of our circumvention tools and guides we’ve made available in Russian:

Educational Resources and Tips

Surveillance Self-Defense:
- Seven Steps To Digital Security: How to choose your tools and what digital assets to protect.
- Choosing the VPN That's Right for You: Safety tips & considerations on choosing VPNs.
Umbrella App (Android): Customizable educational resource for Android and iOS with tips and advice for physical and digital security).
Digital security resources for human rights defenders in Russia and Belarus

Protesting Safely

Attending a Protest: Steps to take to mitigate the risks of attending a protest.
Note: The digital safety practices in the guide are relevant in any region, however please be aware of differing local laws and practices regarding protests, arrests, and filming that will affect which recommendations to adopt.
- Before the Protest
  - Enable full-disk encryption on your device
  - Remove fingerprint unlock and FaceID
  - Install Signal
  - Backup your data
  - Buy a prepaid, disposable phone
  - Dress for anonymity and safety
- During the Protest
  - Take photos and videos without unlocking your device
  - Be mindful of other protesters in your photos and videos
  - Scrub metadata on photos
  - Be aware of how you travel to and from the protest
  - Enable airplane mode

Circumvention Tools to Access Censored Content

Tor Browser (Desktop, Android): Web browser that circumvents online censorship and anonymizes web traffic using the Tor network. It protects the user’s identity by encrypting traffic through three layers and hides the IP address.

Tips on how to use Tor for Windows, Linux, macOS.

If you aren’t able to access the Tor Project website, here are some recommendations for accessing a Tor Browser download from the OONI team:

Visit the Tor Project website mirror: https://tor.eff.org/
Send an email to gettor@torproject.org (GetTor), while specifying the operating system and language (eg. Windows ru) you would like a download link for.

If you are facing challenges connecting to the Tor network on Tor Browser, here are recommendations for circumventing Tor censorship from the Tor Project team (post in English and Russian).

Onion Browser (iOS): a free and open-source web browser for iPhone and iPad that encrypts and tunnels web traffic through the Tor network, with extra features to help you browse the internet privately.
Orbot (Android): a free and open-source proxy app that uses Tor to encrypt and anonymize Internet traffic across mobile applications. Orbot has a VPN mode that allows you to route the traffic of the applications of your choice over the Tor network.
CENO (Censorship.no!) (Android): a mobile web browser, used to circumvent Internet censorship infrastructure, allowing users living in a censored zone to share retrieved content.
Psiphon (Windows, Android, iOS): an open-source Internet censorship circumvention tool that uses a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies (VPN, SSH, and HTTP Proxy). The speed limit for the free version of Psiphon is 2 Mb/s.

If you aren’t able to download Psiphon from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store here are some alternative ways to download the app:

Web: https://psiphon.ca/en/download.html#direct
Mirror: https://psiphon3.com/en/download.html#direct
Proxy: https://472047.info/b/https://s3.amazonaws.com/psiphon/web/6rcw-62xy-i1zw/en/download.html
Cloud: https://s3.amazonaws.com/psiphon/web/svxu-p5vk-d403/en/download.html#direct
Telegram: https://t.me/Psiphon_Ru_Bot
Email: get@psiphon3.com

TunnelBear (Android, iOS, Desktop): a user-friendly VPN with mobile and desktop apps as well as a browser extension.

Anyone connecting from Russia will now receive 10GB of data for free when using TunnelBear.

If you aren’t able to download TunnelBear from the TunnelBear website, Google Play Store or Apple App Store, you can also download through the TunnelBear official Telegram channel: https://t.me/tunnelbearofficial