In Russia, the requirement to block VPNs has crippled the IT market and threatens government contracts
Russian IT companies have suspended some of their projects following a government order to restrict access to their resources via VPN.
This was reported by Russian media, citing industry sources.
According to their information, following a meeting at the Ministry of Digital Development, companies were provided with a list of banned VPN services and recommendations on how to block them.
The problem is that many IT companies in Russia employ specialists from abroad, particularly those who left after the war began, and also actively work with international contractors.
In this regard, some companies have already notified their clients of a temporary suspension of operations until the situation becomes clearer.
Experts note that such restrictions could significantly slow down the transition to “domestic” software and the modernization of critical infrastructure.
Government contracts are also at risk.
According to sources, more than 20 major companies participated in the meeting, including Sberbank, Yandex, VK, Ozon, and others.
In addition, a large-scale mobile network outage was reported in the Belgorod region. On March 18, authorities resorted to a complete shutdown of mobile internet for the first time.
Earlier, the St. Petersburg authorities officially announced restrictions on mobile internet access, citing security measures as the reason.
Internet access was lost in the building of the State Duma of the Russian Federation amid widespread network restrictions in Moscow.
