All websites hosted on foreign hosting providers not registered in Russia will be blocked starting from February 1, 2024.
This is according to regulations introduced by amendments passed last summer by the State Duma, which demands that all hosting service providers register with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s internet watchdog, or they will be prohibited from operating in the country.
Hosting providers are businesses that offer the technical infrastructure (servers) and software solutions for websites to be stored (hosted) and accessible by clients (internet users). They provide space, bandwidth, data transfer capacity, and often also domain names, emails, technical support, integrated CMS, and security services.
According to the latest reports from Russian media outlets, almost no foreign hosting providers registered with Roskomnadzor as we’ve reached the final week before the deadline, so many sites will become unreachable for Russian internet users.
This law is part of a broader set of measures and regulations the Russian government has implemented to exert control over the internet and digital services within its borders. The regulation aims to require hosting providers, including foreign entities, to comply with Russian laws, which includes setting up a legal presence in the country (either through creating a representative office or a branch), connecting to certain Russian state systems, and adhering to various operational and security measures. Presumably, that would include accepting network traffic scrutiny from the state, leading to profiling and identifying users, their browsing history, etc.
@notdan
Russian internet freedom observatory Roskomsvoboda reported that with the exception of a Cypriot hosting provider named ActiveCloud, none of the foreign hosting providers who remained active in the country until today have opted to register with Roskomnadzor.
Some notable examples of those not having taken action to stay in Russia are Amazon, DigitalOcean, Ionos, Kamatera, Bluehost, HostGator, DreamHost, WPEngine, and Network Solutions.
Previously, in December 2023, the American internet domain registrar and web hosting company GoDaddy announced its intention to leave the Russian market. German hosting provider and data center operator Hetzner made a similar statement at the time. That said, for these two, not registering was the expected move.
According to RBC, the lack of interest in continuing operations in Russia is attributed to multiple interconnected factors, influenced by regulatory challenges, fear of Western sanctions, and the evolving political landscape.
It is characteristic of Russia’s hostile stance against hosting providers it can’t subdue that two weeks ago, a Moscow court imposed fines of hundreds of million rubles to Kamatera, Bluehost, Hetzner, Amazon, and another seven hosting providers for failing to comply with reporting laws applicable to companies that manage traffic which surpasses 500k users/month.
Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) can potentially help users in Russia access websites that are hosted by providers not registered in the Roskomnadzor registry, but it’s not a foolproof solution and comes with its own set of risks and considerations, including legal risks, especially with non-trustworthy providers that could leak the user’s IP address. If you are ready to take your chances, make sure to consult our guide on VPNs for Russia here.