- Russia’s Roskomnadzor issued 212 VPN blocking orders against Google Play between March and April 2025
- Out of these targeted VPNs, only 6 apps are unavailable on the country’s app store
- In contrast, Apple was found to have killed at least 60 VPN apps in 2024 alone upon Roskomnadzor’s request
Russia’s censor body Roskomnadzor issued 212 VPN blocking orders against Google between March and April 2025. Among these, however, only 6 apps appeared to have been removed so far, bringing the total of unavailable VPN services on Russia’s Google Play Store to 53.
Russian investigative journalist Maria Kolomychenko first discovered that Google received at least 47 VPN removal orders of some of the best VPN apps starting on March 12. After this revelation, researchers at GreatFire’s AppCensorship Project began to analyze the availability of 399 VPN apps, unveiling that Roskomnadzor actually targeted 212 VPN-like tools.
GreatFire’s findings show an escalation in the Kremlin’s war on VPNs. Unlike Apple, however, which killed at least 60 VPN apps upon Roskomnadzor’s request in 2024 alone, Google appears to have resisted most Russian VPN blocking requests so far.
214 removal requests targeting 212 VPNs
Roskomnadzor’s fight against VPN apps is certainly nothing new. Yet, as GreatFire’s Campaign and Advocacy Director, Benjamin Ismail, puts it: “The Russian government is waging an all-out war on VPNs and all other tools enabling Russian citizens to bypass censorship and surveillance.”
Specifically, GreatFire recorded a total of 214 removal orders issued against Google between March 12 and April 1, 2025. Among these, 212 targeted virtual private network (VPN) and similar apps like VPN client and proxy tools.
Several of these requests were issued under a law enforced in March last year, which criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions – VPNs included. Nonetheless, using a VPN isn’t a crime in Russia.
As mentioned earlier, Google appears to have largely resisted Russia’s censorship demands so far. GreatFire found, in fact, that only 6 of the VPNs targeted by the last wave of Roskomnadzor requests are currently unavailable in the Play Store. These include the popular service ExpressVPN.
A total of 53 VPN services were found to be unavailable on Russia’s Google Play Store. These include the likes of NordVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access (PIA), and Astrill VPN.
Popular apps like Proton VPN, Mullvad, and Amnezia VPN remain accessible via the Google Play stores in the country at the time of writing.
Interestingly, though, researchers found some inconsistencies with Roskomnadzor’s own takedown requests, which in several cases targeted VPN apps that had already been removed.
ExpressVPN is an example of that, as it appears to have been unavailable on Russia’s Google Play at least since sometime between March and September 2024.
Another challenge is to determine when an app got removed as well as the exact reason behind its unavailability. For instance, Avast VPN confirmed in a blog post the company’s decision to cease its operation in Russia following the Ukraine war. More developers may have also been pressured by the government to leave the country’s app stores.
Yet, according to Ismail, this doesn’t mean censorship is absent.
He told TechRadar: “Self-censorship is still censorship: it’s just a more indirect, systemic form, rather than a formal takedown. And if, in the end, it was the developer’s sole decision to take down the app as part of a broader withdrawal from the Russian market, we regret such a choice.”
AppCensorship is now calling for greater independent oversight and transparency from tech platforms.
You can check the full list of unavailable VPNs on Google Play here. If you’re in Russia and struggling to download your desired VPN, we recommend changing your app store location or, on Android, finding alternative sideloading options.
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chiara.castro@futurenet.com (Chiara Castro)
