Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian companies are blocking foreign IP addresses in a bid to block VPNs, stranding thousands of Russians abroad without access to money, flight details, or taxes. Major Russian apps are also being repurposed to scan users' phones for VPNs and secretly obtain user data. ⬇️

2/ While apps such as Telegram, Instagram, and WhatsApp have been blocked in Russia, millions of Russians still access them daily using VPNs. However, the Russian government is working hard to choke off this access by deterring VPN use (while not yet banning them).

3/ Russian online service providers have been ordered by the government to block access from VPN IP addresses. They are taking a very crude approach of blocking all foreign IP addresses, causing great inconvenience to travellers, as Russian blogger 'Abu' complains:

4/ "Russian tourists are left without critical services like government services and banks.

Similar problems are occurring when paying for reservations on some airline websites.

5/ "This is all because Russian apps have started disconnecting VPN users. Apparently, the developers have taken a radical approach to the issue and simply banned all foreign IP addresses.

6/ "Now, ordinary Russians who flew to Turkey, Egypt, Vietnam, and other countries to sunbathe can't buy tickets home, pay taxes, or transfer money.

Sunbathe at home."

7/ To add to Russians' misery, the Internet freedom group RKS global has found that major Russian apps appear to have been repurposed to scan users' phones for VPNs and identify anyone who has one installed.

8/ According to a newly published report by RKS global, out of 30 popular Russian apps, including ones from T-Bank, Sberbank, Yandex, and VKontakte, 22 actively detected VPN use or whether a user had one installed on their phone, and saved that data on their servers.

9/ RKS global says that "the level of intrusion into the device can be very high. Any Android app released by Russian companies for the Russian market may now be spying." The apps ignore permission prompts to run constantly from the moment of installation.

10/ All 30 apps capture the user's exact GPS location. 28 of the 30 access the camera and microphone, and grab the user's contact list. 27 silently scan the phone to identify all the other installed apps. 24 record audio.

11/ 15 grant themselves permission, without user involvement, to install additional executables, while 12 prevent themselves from being put to sleep by the system. 6 use the microphone in the background without a visible app, and 5 read all SMS messages.

12/ Many Russians have resisted installing the Russian government's preferred messenger app, MAX, because they (almost certainly rightly) believe it spies on them. However, they are likely not aware that all of their other popular apps are now doing the same thing.

13/ The data recorded by the apps is stored on the developers' servers, which are accessible by the FSB and Russian law enforcement. Not coincidentally, Russia's prosecutor general says he now wants warrantless access to phone data. /end

Sources:
🔹 t.me/abuwtf/36337
🔹 theguardian.com/world/2026/apr…
🔹 files.rks.global/russian_apps_s…
🔹 meduza.io/en/news/2026/0…