List of websites blocked in Russia

This is a list of notable websites that have been blocked or censored in Russia, including current and past blocks. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has maintained an official mandatory list since 2012. Websites can be blocked for obtaining child pornography, materials advocating drug abuse and drug production, items on the Federal List of Extremist Materials,[1][2] or for violations of data retention and surveillance laws.

A number of websites maintain lists of websites are currently blocked in Russia, based on different sources of information.[3][4]

List
Prior to 2012
  • Blacklist entries as of June 2017 by agencies responsible for the entry
    In 2004 Russia pressured Lithuania, and in 2006 Sweden, into shutting down the Kavkaz Center website, a site that supports creation of a Sharia state in North Caucasus and hosts videos of terrorist attacks on Russian forces in the North Caucasus.[5][6]
  • During the December 2008 demonstrations in Vladivostok,[7] it was reported by the Kontury news website that FSB officers issued a request that moderators of the ru_auto Internet community remove stories about the protests. The major reason, as reported by a moderator of the resource, was that repeating posts containing information about the protests worsened people's attitudes. The moderator in question requested bloggers to publish only unique posts about protest actions.[8]
  • In December 2009, Internet provider Yota, with over 100,000 subscribers[9] blocked access to some Russian opposition Internet resources for its Moscow-based subscribers for a few days. This occurred after the chief prosecutor of St. Petersburg recommended that the company prevent access to extremist resources. The only Internet resource listed as extremist by the Ministry of Justice of Russia at the time was that of the Caucasian separatists, KavkazCenter.ru. Since the evening of 6 December 2009, Yota allowed access to all previously blocked resources except KavkazCenter.ru.[10][11]
2012
  • On 8 April 2012, it was confirmed by Roskomnadzor that several Russian and English Wikipedia articles had been blacklisted.[12]
  • In July 2012, the Russian State Duma passed the Bill 89417-6, which provided a blacklist of Internet sites.[13][14] The blacklist was officially launched in November 2012, despite criticism by major websites and NGOs.[15]
  • The IP address of Lurkmore.to (Lurkomorye) was blocked on 11 November 2012 after a decision of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia; the owner of the site told journalists he did not receive any communication from Roskomnadzor or the Federal Drug Control Service before the IP address was blacklisted.[16][17] Lurkmore.to was removed from the blacklist on 13 November 2012 after the website administrators deleted two marijuana-related articles.[18]
  • The IP address of the Librusec online library was blacklisted on 11 November 2012.[19] According to a leaked copy of the blacklist, it was blocked for a description of marijuana soup in a Russian translation of The Anarchist Cookbook.[20] The IP address was unblocked on 13 November after The Anarchist Cookbook was removed by Librusec administrators.[21][22]
2013
  • On 31 March 2013, The New York Times reported that Russia was "Selectively Blocking [the] Internet".[23]
  • On 5 April 2013, a spokesperson for Roskomnadzor confirmed that the Russian Wikipedia had been blacklisted because of the article, "Cannabis smoking".[24][25]
2014
  • In March 2014, in the midst of the Crimean crisis, the LiveJournal blog of Alexei Navalny, Kasparov.ru and Grani.ru were blocked by the government. These sites, which opposed the Russian government, were blocked for "making calls for unlawful activity and participation in mass events held with breaches of public order."[26]
  • 2 December 2014 — Supreme Court of the Russian Federation bans jw.org
  • In August 2014 a number of websites were blocked as the war in Donbass developed, including the Ukrainian news site, Glavnoe.ua,[27] a survey about the separation of the Caucasus from Russia[28] and numerous announcements and commentaries about the "march for Siberia federalisation".[29]
  • In 2014, a media blackout was launched against a performance art project called Monstration scheduled for 17 August. Roskomnadzor issued warnings to fourteen media outlets for reporting the announcement.[30] The project was compared to Euromaidan, which led to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
  • In October 2014 Roskomnadzor blocked the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine site, well known for its Archive.org website.[31] A number of websites listing blocked addresses was also blocked, including such as Zapretno.info.
  • In October and December 2014, a popular source code repository, GitHub, was temporarily blocked for hosting a page containing (mostly) satirical suicide instructions, frequently used to troll the Russian censorship system.[32]
  • In December 2014 a Facebook page protesting an event against the prosecution of Alexey Navalny was blocked in the Russian Federation. A Roskomnadzor representative stated that the page was blocked because it promoted an "unsanctioned mass event".[33]
  • Popular opposition websites encouraging protests against the court rulings in Bolotnaya Square case were blocked for "calling for illegal action"; Dumb Ways to Die, a public transport safety video, was blocked as "suicide propaganda"; websites discussing federalization of Siberia—as "attack on the foundations of the constitution"; an article on a gay activist being fired from job as well as LGBT support communities—as "propaganda of non-traditional sex relations"; publishing Pussy Riot logo—as "insult of the feelings of believers"; criticism of overspending of local governor—"disrespect of the authorities"; publishing a poem in support of Ukraine—"inciting hatred"[34][35]
2015
  • In January 2015 a number of Bitcoin related websites were blocked (including bitcoin.org) because "it contributes to shadow economy".[36] In February, Bitstamp was unblocked.[37]
  • In February 2015, Russia blacklisted "Children-404", a website providing Russia's LGBT teens with an outlet to anonymously share their personal experiences with one another, for allegedly violating the country's law against promoting homosexuality.[38]
  • An on-line article by Yulia Latynina in Novaya Gazeta was blocked for unspecified "extremism", most likely a suggestion that "Russian culture only became great when it mixed with European".[39]
  • After a Russian consumer protection watchdog OZPP published a warning for Russian tourists about possibility of being denied EU visas after visiting Crimea,[40] explaining that from the international law point of view Crimea is an occupied territory, Roskomnadzor blocked the OZPP website "for threatenting territorial integrity of the Russian Federation".[41]
  • In June 2015, some ISPs blocked the Internet Archive entirely following an order to censor an archived page for containing "extremist" material. These blocks were a side effect of the site's use of HTTPS possibly being incompatible with how ISPs implement their filters.[42]
  • On 21 July 2015 the official website of Jehovah's Witnesses was banned throughout the Russian Federation. Jehovah's Witnesses say that the motion to ban them was originally filed on 7 August 2013[43] but was overturned after they voluntarily removed certain publications from the version of the site presented to Russian IP addresses.[44] However, on 2 December 2014 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation overturned the Regional Court, stating that the Witnesses might choose to reinstate the materials they had volunteered to remove.[45]
  • On 12 August 2015 the whole of Reddit was blocked in Russia by Roskomnadzor because of a post made by a Reddit user on the site. The post is a guide for growing Psilocybe mushrooms. The block was lifted the next day after Reddit complied with Roskomnadzor's demand of blocking access from users in Russia to the specific post.[46][47]
  • As of August 2015, 4 Wikipedia articles remain blocked in Russia, and more than 25 were blocked for some time. Most of these articles are related to drugs and suicide.[48]
  • On 25 January 2016 Rutracker.org, the biggest torrent tracker in Russia and CIS countries, with about 13 million users, was permanently blocked by Roskomnadzor as a result of a decision of the Moscow City Court.[49]
2016
  • On 28 January 2016, pages related to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation were blocked on Archive.is when accessed through non-encrypted traffic. HTTPS traffic to the website was blocked entirely.[50]
  • On 4 August 2016, a Moscow court ruled that LinkedIn must be blocked in Russia because it stores the user data of Russian citizens outside of the country, in violation of the new data retention law. This ban was upheld on 10 November 2016.[51] and the ban was officially issued by Roskomnadzor on 17 November 2016.[52]
2017
  • In January Dailymotion was blocked[53]
  • In 2017 an image of Putin as a "gay clown" was added as item 4071 on Russia's Federal List of Extremist Material,[54] as a result of a 2016 legal case against social media activist A. V. Tsvetkov.[55]
2018
  • On 13 April 2018, messaging service Telegram was banned by court order for refusing to grant the Federal Security Service (FSB) access to encrypted user communications.[56][57] The ban has been enforced via the blockage of over 15.8 million IP addresses. IPs associated with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform are included in the block, due to Telegram's use of these platforms; this measure resulted in collateral damage due to usage of the platforms by other services in the country, including retail, Mastercard SecureCode, Mail.ru's TamTam messaging service, Twitch, and many other unknown websites being blocked for no reason for a month.[58][59]
2019
  • In August 2019 an interview with a Russian professor of philosophy about stoicism was blocked for alleged "propaganda of suicide"[60]
2020
  • In January 2020 Russia blocked encrypted email service ProtonMail, claiming that it had been used to send fake, anonymous bomb threats.[61]

References
  1. Paul Goble (29 March 2015). "FSB Increasingly Involved in Misuse of 'Anti-Extremism' Laws, SOVA Says". The Interpreter Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  2. "Examples of forbidden content". Zapretno.info. 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  3. "Antizapret.info". Archived from the original on 10 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  4. "ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫЙ СПИСОК ЭКСТРЕМИСТСКИХ МАТЕРИАЛОВ – БИБЛИОТЕКА". Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  5. "Lithuania shuts Chechen rebel site" Archived 3 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 18 September 2004
  6. "Chechen rebel website reopens" Archived 17 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 8 October 2004
  7. Protests on Car Tariffs Erupt in Russia Archived 10 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 22 December 2008
  8. http://kontury.info/news/2008-12-23-607 Archived 3 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Yota: subscriber growth" Archived 2 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, 18 August 2009
  10. "Абоненты расследуют «фильтрацию» оппозиционных сайтов" Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine ("Subscribers are investigating the 'filtering' of opposition websites"), Olga Ivanova, New Russia News Agency (NR2), 3 December 2009, (in Russian). (English translation) Archived 3 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine).
  11. "Абоненты Yota несколько дней не имели доступа к оппозиционным сайтам" Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine ("Yota blocked access to opposition sites for several days"), Lenta.Ru, 7 December 2009 (in Russian). (English translation Archived 10 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine).
  12. "Стал известен полный список статей, на данный момент внесённый в реестр Роскомнадзора (ru, en)" Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine ("He became known for a complete list of articles, currently entered in the register Roskomnadzora (ru, en)"), Wikimedia RU. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  13. Internet Restriction Bill Passes First Reading Archived 30 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Moscow Times, 8 July 2012, retrieved 9 July 2012
  14. "Law concerning the illegal websites register has come into force" Archived 5 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Lyudmila Ternovaya, Кызыл тан, 30 July 2012, accessed 7 August 2012
  15. "Russia internet blacklist law takes effect". BBC. 31 October 2012. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  16. Интернет-энциклопедию "Луркоморье" внесли в реестр запрещенных сайтов [The "Lurkomorye" Internet encyclopedia has been added to the register of prohibited websites] (in Russian). Lenta.Ru. 11 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  17. ""Закрыть можно что угодно по произвольному набору критериев" Владелец Lurkmore о блокировке сайта" ["Anything can be banned using an arbitrary set of criteria." The owner of Lurkmore talks about the website being blocked] (in Russian). Afisha. 12 November 2012. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  18. "Луркоморье" исключили из реестра запрещенных сайтов [Lurkomorye has been removed from the register of prohibited websites] (in Russian). Lenta.Ru. 13 November 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  19. "Заблокирован IP Либрусека. Госорганы добрались до библиотек" [The Librusec IP is blocked. The authorities have started targeting libraries.] (in Russian). RuBlackList. 12 November 2012. Archived from the original on 29 December 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  20. Список запрещенных сайтов утек в интернет [The list of prohibited websites has been leaked on the Internet] (in Russian). Lenta.Ru. 12 November 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  21. ""Либрусек" и Rutracker исключили из реестра сайтов с запрещенной информацией" (in Russian). Gazeta.ru. 13 November 2012. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  22. Библиотека "Либрусек" удалила "Поваренную книгу анархиста" (in Russian). Lenta.Ru. 14 November 2012. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  23. "Russians Selectively Blocking Internet". The New York Times. 31 March 2013. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  24. "Russia May Block Wikipedia Access Over Narcotics Article" Archived 10 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, RIA Novosti, 5 April 2013
  25. "Russian media regulator confirms Wikipedia blacklisted", Interfax News, 5 April 2013
  26. "Russia censors media by blocking websites and popular blog". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 14 March 2014. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  27. "Информация из реестра по glavnoe.ua". Antizapret. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  28. "Информация из списка минюста по goodbyekavkaz.org". Antizapret. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  29. "Информация из реестра по delo.ua". Antizapret. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  30. "Authorities in Novosibirsk ban march to press for changing Siberia's status in Russia". The Siberian Times. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  31. "Archive.org". Zapretno.info. 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  32. "GitHub снова оказался в реестре запрещенных в РФ сайтов (судя по всему надолго)". OpenNet. 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  33. Andrew Roth, David M. Herszenhorn (22 December 2014). "Facebook Page Goes Dark, Angering Russia Dissidents". Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  34. "More literature, website and video bans, but one partially overturned". Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  35. "Bans on more literature, website and video". Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  36. "Russia blocks bitcoin websites over "shadow economy" fears". GigaOm. 13 January 2015. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  37. Bitstamp [@Bitstamp] (12 February 2016). "Effective immediately, @Bitstamp is again accessible from Russia" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  38. "Russia Blacklists LGBT Teen Online Support Group". The Moscow Times. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  39. "Novaya Gazeta Loses Court Challenge to Russian State Censor". The Interpreter Magazine. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  40. "Правозащитники рассказали об отказах в выдаче виз после поездок в Крым". Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  41. "Роскомнадзор распорядился заблокировать сайт Общества защиты прав потребителей". tvrain.ru. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  42. "Wayback Machine's 485 billion web pages blocked by Russian government order". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  43. by the Central District Court of the city of Tver, located 100 miles (160 km) north of Moscow
  44. On 22 January 2014 the Regional Court of Tver reversed the earlier ruling by the lower court. The Regional Court conducted a new trial, which concluded that the decision of the Central District Court was unjustified."Russian Court Overturns Attempt to Ban Bible-Education Website-JW.org" Archived 29 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Jehovah's Witnesses, 21 January 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  45. Russia bans JW.org Archived 1 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Jehovah's Witnesses July 2015
  46. Роскомнадзор (12 August 2015). "Wall | VK". VKontakte. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  47. rsocfan (12 August 2015). "TIFU by getting Reddit banned in Russia". Reddit. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  48. ru:Википедия:Страницы Википедии, внесённые в Единый реестр запрещённых сайтов, Retrieved 21 August 2015
  49. "Russian Movie-Sharing Websites Face Block as Netflix Looms". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  50. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  51. "Moscow Court Upholds Decision to Ban LinkedIn in Russia". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  52. "LinkedIn blocked by Russian government". PC World. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  53. Archived 11 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine, TorrentFreak
  54. http://minjust.ru/ru/node/243787 Archived 12 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine page 453, item 4071 "Плакат с изображением человека, похожего на президента РФ В.В. Путина, на лице которого макияж – накрашены ресницы и губы, что, по замыслу автора/авторов плаката, должно служить намеком на якобы нестандартную сексуальную ориентацию президента РФ. Текст под изображением (воспроизводится с сохранением особенностей орфографии и пунктуации, с сокрытием нецензурной лексики): «Избиратели Путина, как ... вроде бы их много, но среди моих знакомых их нет», размещенный 07 мая 2014 года в социальной сети «Вконтакте» на аккаунте http://vk.com/id161877484 Archived 25 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine с ник-неймом «Александр Цветков» (решение Центрального районного суда г. Твери от 11.05.2016);"
  55. Robins-Early, Nick (6 April 2017). "Russia Bans 'Extremist' Image Of Putin In Makeup". Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017 – via Huff Post.
  56. Roth, Andrew (13 April 2018). "Moscow court bans Telegram messaging app". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  57. MacFarquhar, Neil (13 April 2018). "Russian Court Bans Telegram App After 18-Minute Hearing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  58. "Russia's Telegram ban is a big, convoluted mess". The Verge. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  59. "Twitch is reportedly blocked in Russia right now". Polygon. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  60. "Роспотребнадзор углядел в философии стоицизма пропаганду суицида". Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  61. "Russia blocks encrypted email service ProtonMail". Retrieved 29 January 2020.
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