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Khinshtein: “The State Duma is not working on restrictions on the use of VPN”

Proposals on legislative restriction of the use of VPN services were not put forward to the State Duma, said the head of the Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Alexander Khinshtein. Previously, the possibility of banning VPN was allowed in the Federation Council.

“I don’t know about such initiatives. We haven’t worked them out,” Khinshtein told the Interfax agency and stressed that he considers the VPN ban for Russian users “unpromising.”

Earlier, the chairman of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation, Andrei Klishas, ​​admitted the possibility of a ban on VPN services.

“The ban on resources that allow you to bypass blocking is possible, but there will be no responsibility of citizens for using such resources,” he told RIA Novosti.

On March 15, Khinshtein reported that Roskomnadzor had already blocked about twenty VPN services, and this work would continue. VPNs were discussed in the context of the discussion of restrictions in Russia on Meta* social networks.

“Everyone who continues to use this network, one way or another, uses a VPN, a network routing bypass system,” Khinshtein said.

On March 11, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation filed a lawsuit to recognize Meta as an extremist organization, and on March 21, the lawsuit was satisfied. The court banned the activity of Meta on the territory of the Russian Federation, including the social networks Facebook** and Instagram**, except for the WhatsApp messenger. Meta is also prohibited from opening a legal entity, accepting payments and doing business in Russia.

Earlier, the State Duma explained that if Meta is recognized as a banned organization, users of its platforms will not be equated with extremists and no charges will be brought against them if there are no violations of laws in their publications.

* - recognized as an extremist organization, its activities are prohibited in Russia

** — banned in Russia

Khinshtein: “The State Duma is not working on restrictions on the use of VPN”