Roskomnadzor takes on VPN users in the occupied territories

<span><span><span>Roskomnadzor has prepared a draft order on "approving the procedure for providing information by a telecom operator that allows identifying communication means and equipment" of Internet users. The document is posted on the federal portal of legal acts.</span></span></span>

<span><span><span>According to Krym </span></span></span>.Realii<span><span><span>, if the order comes into force, Roskomnadzor will receive data from telecom operators about specific phones and computers that use VPNs, in particular to view content banned in Russia.</span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Roskomnadzor claims that it does not intend to collect data on personal devices of users accessing the network using VPNs, and that the measure proposed by the agency is only aimed at "updating the filtering rules to counter DDoS attacks."</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>However, Sota notes that the text of the draft order explicitly refers to the identification of the user's means of communication and equipment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Earlier, Roskomnadzor banned more than 300 videos about VPNs posted on YouTube.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than a million websites have been blocked in Russia, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (now X), as well as independent media sites including Radio Liberty and Krym.Realii. Russians use VPN services to bypass the blocking. The demand for them has increased dramatically since the beginning of the war, but the authorities block them as well.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>In October, it became known that the Russian authorities will spend 95 billion rubles over the next three years to isolate the Internet, 60 billion of which will be spent on fighting VPN services.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>

Meanwhile, in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region, Russian invaders presented a new textbook on the so-called "history of Kherson region" for students in grades 5-7.

Recently, the staff of the Kherson Art Museum identified the painting "Landscape of Paris" by the prominent artist Mykhailo Andrienko-Nechytailo stolen by the occupiers.

On December 18, Ostap Kindrachuk, an outstanding 87-year-old Ukrainian bandura player and kobzar from Yalta, passed away. His name became a symbol of Ukrainian culture in Crimea.

Андрій Колісніченко