The Ministry of Digital Development has sent out guidelines on detecting VPNs — here is what they say.
RBC obtained a copy of the Ministry’s VPN‑detection guidelines.
The document was distributed to participants of meetings with Russia’s largest internet companies (more than 20 platforms), instructing them to restrict access for users with VPN enabled by April 15.
Why mobile devices and apps come first The guidelines note that more than half of user devices are mobile devices running Android and iOS, and about 80% of the apps that can be used to detect circumvention tools are installed precisely on these devices.
Therefore, it is recommended to start implementing VPN‑detection mechanisms with Android and iOS gadgets.
Three stages for checking VPN usage
Companies must check whether VPN is enabled on user devices in three stages:
Stage 1: Determine the device’s IP address and compare it with IP addresses that are considered Russian, as well as with the list of IP addresses blocked by Roskomnadzor.
Stage 2: Check whether circumvention tools are being used on the device via the company’s own app (if it is installed on the same device).
Stage 3: Check for VPN usage on devices running operating systems other than Android and iOS (Windows, macOS, etc.).
The materials give an example: if the user’s country or region determined by IP does not match Russian ones, or matches addresses previously blocked by Roskomnadzor, or if the user’s countries change frequently, this will be a signal for blocking.
However, this signal must be confirmed through the second or third stage of verification.
Why iOS is harder to check for VPN The guidelines state directly that carrying out the second stage of checks on Apple’s iOS devices is difficult, because “on iOS access to system parameters is significantly limited”.
iOS privacy and security policies mean that third‑party apps are isolated and cannot collect or modify information stored in other apps.
For Android, the situation is simpler: it provides the ConnectivityManager and NetworkCapabilities systems, which allow an app to request active network parameters and determine that the current internet traffic is going through a VPN.
Scenarios where VPN detection is difficult or impossible The guidelines list cases where it is difficult or impossible to detect a circumvention tool:
VPN on routers: if the VPN is configured on the router, there are no local artifacts on the device itself.
VPN in virtual machines or containers: deployment inside a VM/container complicates detection.
Proxy servers at regular ISPs: if a proxy has a home‑ISP IP, it cannot be identified via IP reputation databases.
Split tunneling: when only selected apps send traffic through the VPN, checking a single active network is not sufficient.
CDNs and global services: content delivery networks and global services can distort location information even without VPN.
New VPN services: they appear faster than IP reputation databases are updated.
Monitoring recommendations The guidelines also recommend not performing continuous monitoring of VPN status on the user’s device, as this “will negatively affect data usage and battery consumption”.
Conclusions and what this means for users The Ministry of Digital Development defines a step‑by‑step procedure for detecting VPNs, focusing on the mobile platforms Android and iOS.
At the same time, iOS’s technical limitations and the many possible bypass scenarios (routers, VMs, split tunneling, CDNs, etc.) significantly reduce detection reliability.
Signs of VPN usage are meant to be confirmed at subsequent verification stages, rather than leading to automatic blocking at the first detection.
If you are concerned about censorship, surveillance, or geo‑blocking, using a reliable VPN remains one way to preserve access and privacy.
A VPN such as Doppler VPN can help bypass blocks and protect traffic, but it is important to take local laws and risks into account.