By the end of 2025, the Russian internet entered a phase of «digital defense». Roskomnadzor shifted from targeted website blocking to carpet bombing the censorship circumvention technologies themselves. Thanks to the complete coverage of provider networks with TSPU equipment (Technical Means for Countering Threats), the state has learned to destroy VPN traffic at the root, turning the global network into a closed intranet.
1. Technical Knockout: How TSPU Kills VPNs
The main event of the year was the complete ineffectiveness of classic VPN protocols. TSPU equipment, installed «in-line» at every telecom operator, no longer looks only at IP addresses. It analyzes the «digital fingerprint» of each data packet in real time.
- WireGuard and OpenVPN: The most popular protocols were neutralized first. TSPU identifies them by characteristic handshake headers and blocks the connection at the creation stage.
- The End of «Invisibility» (Shadowsocks): Masking methods such as Shadowsocks, which were previously considered reliable, are now calculated by heuristic analysis algorithms. The system measures the entropy (degree of randomness) of the data stream and blocks any «unidentified» encrypted connections that do not look like normal browser traffic.
2. Presumption of Guilt for Traffic
The state has effectively introduced a «Default Deny» principle for network protocols. If the TSPU system cannot decrypt the traffic or identify it as legal (for example, standard HTTPS to an allowed site), it is subject to throttling or resetting. Even complex obfuscation methods stop helping, as the censor blocks everything «suspiciously incomprehensible».
3. Final Stage: Internet by «White Lists»
The logical continuation of the war on VPNs was the introduction of regional «white lists», tested in the Leningrad, Pskov, and Novgorod regions. In moments of threats (for example, UAV attacks), the network is switched to a mode where access is open only to resources from the Ministry of Digital Development's list:
- «Gosuslugi» portal and government websites.
- Russian social networks («VKontakte», «Odnoklassniki»).
- «Yandex» services (Maps, Taxi) and banking applications (Sber, VTB).
