Unlike most countries that restrict VPN access, Russia took it one step closer by criminalizing VPN activity when accessing “extremist” content.
Although most of these penalties are fines, Russian police may be empowered to search devices with VPNs installed, leading to additional criminal charges.
EditL Not even China does this in practice. While VPNs are technically illegal, most law enforcement officials won’t care if you use VPNs to circumvent the Great Firewall. They only care if you engage in specific illegal activity like directly engaging in anti-government activity.
Russia’s definition of extremist content is rather vague, so this law could become stricter than its Chinese counterpart