Russia Drops AI VPN Blocking Target From National Plan

Oct 21, 2026
A proposal to use AI to lift Russia's VPN blocking effectiveness to 95% is no longer in the draft national AI plan, while Roskomnadzor's separate machine learning filter stays funded.

Russia's Digital Development Ministry considered using AI to raise the effectiveness of its VPN blocking to 95%, but the measure is not in the current draft of the country's national AI plan, TechRadar reported, citing Kommersant. The draft, covering AI through 2030, proposed using AI to analyze the characteristics of 70% of the VPN services Russia blocks.

The ministry said the current draft "contains no such information." The 95% figure was an effectiveness target, not a measure of accuracy, and says nothing about how much legitimate traffic would be blocked along with VPNs.

A separate machine learning traffic filtering project run by Roskomnadzor is budgeted outside the national AI plan. Forbes Russia reported in January that the agency planned to spend 2.27 billion rubles, about $29 million, on it in 2026.

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