VPNs in Russia are failing one after another: Roskomnadzor is stepping up blocking — suspicious traffic may be detected using AI

Against this backdrop, suggestions have emerged that Roskomnadzor has begun actively using artificial intelligence for round-the-clock analysis of internet traffic. However, there is an important nuance: there is still no official confirmation of the full-scale deployment of AI for this task.

VPNs in Russia have begun to be blocked even more actively

In early November, Russian users began reporting problems with VPNs en masse.

According to reports in topical communities, the restrictions affect not only major commercial services but also private servers that owners create exclusively for personal use.

Some users claim that familiar connections stop working without warning, and new servers come under restrictions shortly after launch.

Complaints about connection instability and the need to regularly reconfigure the services being used are especially noticeable.

Such reports appeared against the backdrop of the consistent expansion of the technical capabilities of Russia's internet filtering system.

Has Roskomnadzor connected artificial intelligence?

This is precisely the question that is currently generating the most interest.

In October 2026, Kommersant reported that the Ministry of Digital Development had been considering the possibility of using artificial intelligence to more effectively identify VPN services.

According to the proposals under discussion, the use of AI could potentially increase the effectiveness of VPN detection to 95%.

It was assumed that the algorithms would be able to analyze the characteristic features of network connections and find even new services that had not yet been added to traditional blocklists.

However, the Ministry of Digital Development clarified that the relevant provisions are absent from the current version of the draft national plan for the introduction of artificial intelligence.

Moreover, the ministry stated that existing intelligent traffic analysis algorithms should not automatically be considered full-fledged artificial intelligence.

Therefore, it cannot yet be asserted that Roskomnadzor has already launched a separate neural network for round-the-clock detection of every VPN connection.

How VPN connections can be detected

Modern filtering systems are capable of analyzing not only the IP addresses of known VPN servers.

Various technical characteristics may be used to identify a suspicious connection:

• the specifics of establishing a secure connection;
• characteristic parameters of network traffic;
• the duration of internet sessions;
• the volume of data transmitted;
• the specifics of interaction with remote servers;
• technical signatures of the protocols used.

Artificial intelligence is potentially capable of combining a large number of such features and detecting new patterns faster.

This is fundamentally different from ordinary blocking of a specific IP address.

If a server changes its address but retains its characteristic operating features, an intelligent system could theoretically detect it again.

This is precisely why the use of machine learning is seen as a promising direction for the development of internet filtering.

Why even personal VPN servers may stop working

Previously, many users believed that their own VPN server was practically impossible to detect if only a few people used it.

However, a small number of users does not in itself guarantee connection stability.

Technical systems can analyze connection characteristics regardless of how many people use the server.

As a result, restrictions are potentially capable of affecting not only commercial VPN platforms but also private infrastructure.

At the same time, reports of mass disconnection of personal servers are still based mainly on user observations rather than on official Roskomnadzor statistics.

What is happening with popular VPN protocols

Problems with VPNs in Russia did not begin yesterday.

In previous periods, restrictions affected various secure connection protocols, including SOCKS5, VLESS and L2TP.

Isolated problems were also recorded when using other technologies.

According to publications on the development of Russia's filtering system, technical means of countering threats (TSPU) are gradually gaining additional capabilities for analyzing and restricting internet traffic.

This means that blocking can occur not only at the level of individual applications but also at the level of the network infrastructure of telecom operators.

What risks does this pose for ordinary users?

Increased filtering may have consequences far beyond the use of VPNs.

First and foremost, this concerns the stability of access to various internet services.

Possible consequences:

1. Unstable VPN operation. Users may more often encounter connection drops and the inability to connect.

2. Problems with foreign services. Some international platforms may become less accessible.

3. Difficulties for remote work. Companies using secure communication channels may face additional technical restrictions.

4. Problems for developers. Access to foreign repositories, cloud platforms and development tools may become less stable.

5. False positives in filtering. Connections unrelated to circumventing blocks may potentially also come under restrictions.

The last point is especially important for business: corporate VPNs, cloud systems and other legitimate remote access technologies also use encrypted traffic.

Can AI make mistakes and block ordinary websites?

Yes. This is one of the main technical problems of intelligent filtering.

Recognition algorithms work with probabilities and characteristic features. Even high classification accuracy does not guarantee the absence of errors.

For example, a corporate connection or cloud service may have certain technical characteristics similar to VPN traffic.

Experts interviewed by Kommersant warn that automating VPN detection may be accompanied by an increase in the number of erroneous blocks, especially in the initial stages of deploying new models.

Therefore, additional verification of suspicious connections may be required to improve the accuracy of the system.

Will VPNs be completely banned in Russia?

At the moment, it is incorrect to speak of a complete ban on all VPN services.

Russia's internet regulation policy is aimed primarily at restricting access to prohibited resources and to means of circumventing established restrictions.

At the same time, the use of VPNs for corporate and other legitimate tasks continues to exist.

It is also important to distinguish between blocking individual VPN services, restricting certain protocols and a complete ban on the technology.

These are completely different measures.

What happens next?

Judging by the initiatives under discussion, the development of automated internet traffic filtering systems will remain one of the priority technological directions.

In the future, machine learning algorithms could make VPN detection faster and more accurate.

However, questions remain about the cost of infrastructure, recognition effectiveness, the number of false positives and the impact of restrictions on ordinary internet services.

So far, there is no official confirmation of the full-scale launch of a separate Roskomnadzor neural network for round-the-clock detection of all VPN connections.

Bottom line: internet filtering in Russia is becoming more technology-driven

The increased blocking of VPNs in November 2026 has become another signal that Russia's internet filtering system continues to develop.

Against the backdrop of user complaints about connection instability, the introduction of more sophisticated VPN detection algorithms is being discussed.

The main mystery is how far the automation of this process will go and whether it will be able to distinguish prohibited methods of circumventing restrictions from ordinary secure internet traffic.

If machine learning technologies do indeed become a full-fledged part of the filtering system, the rules of how the Russian internet operates could change significantly. And the consequences will be felt not only by VPN users but also by companies, developers and owners of internet services.