A reference to the rules in force: whom they address, which acts they name and what liability they set. Only a retelling of the texts — a link to each one is right next to it.
In short. The word “VPN” does not appear in the laws: the rules speak of “software and hardware means of access” to resources to which access in Russia is restricted. The bans and fines in them address three cases. The Information Law bars the owner of such means from providing the possibility of using them in Russia to access such resources; failing Roskomnadzor’s requirements carries a fine and restricted access to the means themselves. Since 1 September 2025 the Advertising Law bans advertising such means, with a fine of up to 80,000 roubles for a private person. For a private person the Code of Administrative Offences sets a fine of 3,000–5,000 roubles for deliberately searching for extremist materials and accessing them, “including by using” such means.
The rules in one table
The word “VPN” does not appear in these laws. They speak of “software and hardware means of access” to resources “to which access is restricted”. Whom each rule addresses, which act it names and what liability it sets:
| Addressee | Act named in the rule | Liability |
|---|---|---|
| Owner of the means | Providing the possibility of using them in Russia to access resources to which access is restricted; failing Roskomnadzor’s requirements. The ban since 1 November 2017, the fines since 1 September 2025 (Art. 15.8 of the Information Law, Art. 13.52 of the Code of Administrative Offences) | 50–80 thousand roubles for a private person, 200–500 thousand for a company, more for a repeat; restricted access to the means themselves |
| Advertiser | Distributing advertising of such means — since 1 September 2025 (Part 10.8 of Art. 5 of the Advertising Law, Part 18 of Art. 14.3 of the Code) | 50–80 thousand roubles for a private person, 80–150 thousand for an official, 200–500 thousand for a company |
| Private person | Deliberately searching the internet for knowingly extremist materials from the federal list and accessing them, including by using such means — since 1 September 2025 (Art. 13.53 of the Code) | 3–5 thousand roubles |
| Offender | Committing a crime using such means is an aggravating circumstance, since 1 September 2025 (clause “f”, Part 1, Art. 63 of the Criminal Code) | Taken into account when sentencing for the crime |
What the law requires of the owner of the means
The main rule is Article 15.8 of the Federal Law on Information (No. 149-FZ). It was added by Law No. 276-FZ and has applied since 1 November 2017. The owner of such means is barred from “providing the possibility of using [them] on the territory of the Russian Federation” to access resources to which access in Russia is restricted.
The article sets out the procedure step by step:
- at the request of an agency that carries out operational investigations or is responsible for security, Roskomnadzor identifies the owner through its hosting provider and sends it a requirement to connect to a state system holding the list of resources to which access is restricted;
- the owner has 30 working days to connect, and then 3 working days to ensure compliance with the ban;
- on non-compliance, Roskomnadzor decides to restrict access to the means themselves, and carriers carry this out within 24 hours. Once the obligations are met and notified, access is restored.
Since 1 September 2025 non-compliance carries fines under Article 13.52 of the Code of Administrative Offences: 50–80 thousand roubles for a private person, 80–150 thousand for an official, 200–500 thousand for a company, and for a repeat up to 200 thousand, 300 thousand and 1 million roubles respectively. Every part of it addresses the owner of the means.
Part 17 of Article 15.8 sets an exception: the article does not apply to operators of state information systems, state bodies and local authorities, or to cases where the owner has defined the circle of users in advance and the means are used “for technological purposes of supporting the activity” of whoever uses them.
What the law says about advertising
Since 1 September 2025 Part 10.8 of Article 5 of the Advertising Law (added by Law No. 332-FZ) reads: “Distribution of advertising of software and hardware means of access to information resources and information and telecommunication networks to which access is restricted in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation is not permitted.” The fine is set by Part 18 of Article 14.3 of the Code (added by Law No. 281-FZ): 50–80 thousand roubles for private persons, 80–150 thousand for officials, 200–500 thousand for legal entities.
The law defines advertising as information distributed by any means, “addressed to an indefinite circle of persons” and aimed at drawing attention to the object of advertising and promoting it on the market (Art. 3, clause 1).
A separate rule concerns pages with information. Since 31 July 2023, “information on ways and methods of providing access” to resources to which access is restricted can be grounds for entry in the unified register of prohibited information (Art. 15.1, Part 5, clause 1, sub-clause “m” of the Information Law, added by Law No. 406-FZ).
What liability the rules set for private persons
Article 13.53 of the Code (since 1 September 2025) sets a fine of 3,000 to 5,000 roubles for “deliberately searching” the internet for knowingly extremist materials — those on the published federal list or named in clause 3 of Article 1 of the law on countering extremist activity — and accessing them, “including by using” such means.
The act the article names is searching for knowingly extremist materials and accessing them. Using such means appears in it as a way of doing so, through the word “including”.
Two more rules concern private persons:
- distributing advertising of such means — Part 18 of Article 14.3 of the Code, 50,000–80,000 roubles for a private person (see the section above);
- committing a crime using such means — an aggravating circumstance (Criminal Code, Art. 63, Part 1, clause “f”, added by Law No. 282-FZ, since 1 September 2025). Article 63 lists the circumstances taken into account when sentencing for a crime.
What about other countries
We have not gone through other countries’ rules, except one bill: on 14 September 2026 a bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives under which a court could order large VPN services to shut off access from the United States to piracy sites. Our reading of the bill’s text.
What Mayak records
What we record and for how long is set out in our Privacy Policy. Three facts from it:
- we do not record the contents of your traffic or the sites you open; there are technical logs — for example, the IP address and time of requests to our servers are kept for 90 days;
- the policy is written under Russian Federal Law No. 152-FZ on personal data;
- personal data is disclosed to third parties only where expressly required by law — upon a lawful request from authorised bodies.
What we checked
- The texts of the rules. On 23 September 2026 we read the current versions in the ConsultantPlus legal database: Articles 15.1 and 15.8 of the Information Law, Articles 13.52, 13.53 and 14.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences, Articles 3 and 5 of the Advertising Law, and Article 63 of the Criminal Code. The links are in the text (in Russian).
- Dates of entry into force — from the signed texts of the laws on the website of the President of Russia: 276-FZ of 29.07.2017, 406-FZ of 31.07.2023, 281-FZ, 282-FZ and 332-FZ of 31.07.2025.
- Official publication of the same laws — on the official legal information portal: 276-FZ, 406-FZ, 281-FZ, 282-FZ, 332-FZ.
- Our own rules. From our Privacy Policy as of 23 September 2026.
What we do not know
We try to make sure nothing more can be read out of our text than is in it.
- The legal side. We retell the texts of the rules and give no legal assessment. If the question concerns you personally, it is a question for a lawyer.
- Other rules. We read the rules listed. We have not gone through the rules of an employer, a school or a particular service.
- Practice. We have not collected how many fines have been imposed under Articles 13.52, 13.53 and Part 18 of Article 14.3, or for what exactly.
- Changes. We have not tracked bills. The rules can change — check the date of the article.
Short answers
Is VPN banned in Russia? The rules speak not of VPNs but of “software and hardware means of access” to resources to which access is restricted. The bans in them address the owners of such means (Art. 15.8 of the Information Law) and those who distribute their advertising (Part 10.8 of Art. 5 of the Advertising Law).
Which fines does the Code of Administrative Offences set? Article 13.52 — for owners of such means; Part 18 of Article 14.3 — for advertising them; Article 13.53 — 3,000–5,000 roubles for deliberately searching for extremist materials and accessing them, including by using such means.
Is VPN advertising banned? Advertising such means has been banned since 1 September 2025. The fine is 50,000–80,000 roubles for a private person and up to 500,000 for a legal entity.
Since when do these fines apply? Since 1 September 2025: they were introduced by Law No. 281-FZ of 31 July 2025. The ban for owners of the means has applied since 1 November 2017.