The State Duma is not working on a legislative initiative to restrict the use of VPN services to access Instagram and Facebook which are blocked in Russia, clarified Alexander Khinshtein, the head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology, and Communications. Interfax quotes Khinshtein as stating that introducing liability for the use of VPNs by Russian citizens is hopeless. Khinshtein also stated that the legislator is willing to debate a different point of view with the government.
Russia is, however, blocking VPN services, and according to Khinshtein's prior statement, dozens of VPN services have already been disabled.