Statement of VPN Guild on Blocking of VLESS Protocol in Russia

Date: December 10, 2025

Link to the Version in Russian

Since late November 2025, Russian users have been experiencing issues when connecting to VPN services that use the VLESS protocol based on XRay technology. These disruptions have been recorded across the entire country — from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Experts believe this is the result of deliberate actions by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor). This blocking is yet another stage in the state’s long campaign against free access to information and privacy.

Why this technology matters

VLESS is one of the few VPN protocols that continued to work in Russia until recently. Its key feature is that it hides the very fact of VPN usage by disguising VPN traffic as ordinary HTTPS traffic. Internet providers — and therefore Roskomnadzor — see this traffic as a user simply browsing regular websites rather than trying to access blocked resources. This has made VLESS popular among developers of VPN services widely used in Russia.

On the actions of Roskomnadzor

The VPN Guild opposes pressure from state authorities on privacy and data-protection technologies. Enormous sums of money are being spent from the state budget—meaning taxpayers’ money—on combating VPNs. For 2025–2027, 60 billion rubles (USD780 million as of now) have been allocated for this purpose. Russian internet users have already felt the negative effects: from slowdowns of everyday services to the inability to use them at all.

On the accuracy of claims about a complete VLESS block

Many media outlets and official statements have spoken of the “successful blocking” of the VLESS protocol in Russia. This is not entirely correct. Here’s why:

• VLESS is a flexible protocol that allows the use of different methods of encoding, packaging, and obfuscating data. When one method is blocked, developers switch to another.

• VPN providers have other protocols available: Shadowsocks, Trojan, Vmess, AmneziaWG, and more. When one is blocked, they switch to another.

• Responsible and technically competent VPN developers constantly monitor the situation and implement new solutions. Working VLESS configurations began appearing shortly after the blocking started.

Therefore, it is incorrect to speak of a complete block. What happened was the blocking of specific configurations, not the protocol itself.

On alarmist claims in the media

Some media outlets spread statements such as “now all VPN users can be tracked” or “VPN no longer works at all.” This is not true, and such statements only frighten people.

Privacy protocols, including VLESS, were specifically designed to prevent VPN traffic from being distinguishable from regular internet traffic. Censors may complicate access for certain groups of users, but they cannot fully control these technologies.

In relation to all above mentioned, the VPN Guild:

• Defends the position that citizens have the right to privacy online, to the protection of their data, and to access uncensored information;

• Will continue to support developers of privacy technologies, VPN providers, and other participants in the privacy and anti-censorship ecosystem;

• Will protect the right to use VPNs and similar technologies as the most effective and accessible method of self-protection for citizens in the face of tightening digital repression;

• Urges citizens and media not to panic and to remember: blocking one tool is not the end. Technologies evolve, and where one method is banned, new ones emerge. This struggle has been going on for a long time and will continue. We stand ready to help in all its forms.