Working Online Services in Russia – Community List & Basic OPSEC Tips

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Hi everyone,

Over the past few years russian government has intensified its takedown campaign: encrypted e-mail (Proton Mail, etc.), privacy-first messengers (Signal) and a growing share of public VPN apps now sit behind the RuNet’s firewall. At the same time the state is trying to push domestic “super-apps” that resemble China’s WeChat model.

  1. VPNs or Tor connection methods that still work
  2. Sourced list of services that still work without a VPN
  3. Quick OPSEC reminders for anyone inside Russia

1. VPN or Tor connection methods

VPNs
In my case, AdGuardVPN stills works and is very stable.
Mullvad VPN didn’t work when I tried 2 years ago (no idea if it works now).
Same thing for ProtonVPN, no idea if this works today, but it doesn’t seems to work regarding what I saw on Reddit.

Tor

I literally have no idea but I heard that Snowflake mode may work.

2. Sourced list of services that still work without a VPN

Messaging

| :white_check_mark: WhatsApp | Fully reachable today. Russian senator warns it could be blocked in 2025 if Meta refuses data-localisation. kyivindependent.com
|❔ SimpleX | Core relay IPs reportedly blocked – works only via VPN/bridge. Need fresh confirmation. reddit.com
| :cross_mark: Signal | On Roskomnadzor’s block-list since Aug 2024; built-in “anti-censorship” may fail without external proxy.

Other categories ?

Add yours! What about YouTube, Gmail, etc.

3. Quick OPSEC reminders for anyone inside Russia

That’s why this thread is created, we also need to hear from you for this!

On Android, consider User Profiles or Private Space to compartimentalize private and non-private apps.

Last edited by @anonymous261 2025-06-20T20:31:59Z

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Maybe these services could be worth trying out:

  • Molly, an alternative Signal client, has built in proxy settings.
  • Nym and ObscuraVPN are newer VPN services that suppossedly have censorship circumvention capabilities