- Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development confirmed that it has completely abandoned its plan to charge users for international Internet traffic.
- Initially, the proposal aimed to charge users approximately 150 rubles per additional gigabyte after a monthly allocation of 15 GB.
- Demand for censorship bypass tools remains at an all-time high as the Kremlin continues its broader crackdown on digital privacy.
Internet users in Russia can breathe a sigh of relief because the government has abandoned its controversial plan to tax international mobile traffic.
The proposal, which largely targeted those using top VPN services to bypass state censorship, would have forced residents to pay high premiums to access free, open Internet.
The policy change was confirmed during a recent session of the State Duma by Deputy Minister of Digital Development Ivan Lebedev.
In response to parliamentary questions about the initiative by Communist Party legislator Oleg Smolin, Lebedev categorically stated: “Tariffs for foreign traffic are not considered,” as reported by Meduza.io.
First presented during a meeting in late March between Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev and national telecom operators, the plan aimed to hit the wallets of privacy-conscious users.
Because Russian operators inherently classify VPN data routing as international traffic, the government intended to implement a strict monthly limit of 15 gigabytes. According to first reports from the BBC Russian service, the authorities intended to charge users about 150 rubles for each additional gigabyte consumed beyond that limit.
The sudden U-turn comes after months of continued logistical hurdles and industry setbacks. The tax was initially scheduled to come into effect on May 1, but was later postponed until June 1, according to the Russian business daily. Vedomosti reported that operators were not ready to set up their billing systems.
The deadline was later pushed back again until “closer to the fall” or after the September election, before finally being scrapped entirely.
As TechRadar previously reported, an inside source confirmed that Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, lacks the technical capabilities to effectively prevent residents from using VPNs on a large scale.
A temporary victory in a broader digital crackdown
While the eliminated tax is a definitive victory for privacy advocates, it remains just one battle in an increasingly hostile digital war.
Russian demand for circumvention tools has increased dramatically following the state-ordered blocking of major global platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Without a VPN, ordinary citizens find themselves largely cut off from independent news sources and international social media.
Rather than relying exclusively on financial deterrents, the Kremlin has steadily ramped up its technical and legislative attacks to plug the loopholes.
In mid-April, authorities successfully pressured major national internet platforms to comply with new regulations, actively restricting user access to their sites and apps while a VPN was enabled.
Cybersecurity experts have also repeatedly warned of more drastic state interventions aimed at completely isolating the country’s internet infrastructure from the rest of the world.
For now, millions of citizens continue to rely on strong privacy tools to browse the web safely and maintain digital contact with the outside world. If you find yourself dealing with this restrictive landscape, learning exactly how to survive Russia’s VPN crackdown is more crucial than ever.
