from Hacker News

The Russian people have essentially lost access to the internet

by itvision on 6/12/25, 11:15 PM with 17 comments

It's strange that this went unnoticed, but on June 9, 2025, RosKomNadzor —- a government agency that regulates internet access —- essentially made the "outside" Internet inaccessible to Russians and turned the Internet into what's been recently called "Cheburnet", a derogatory term that means the Russian only segment of the wider Internet.

Below is a list of popular websites that you can no longer access:

    * slashdot.org
    * arstechnica.com
    * coingecko.com
    * disqus.com (and all the embedded Disqus discussions on the Internet)
    * forums.developer.nvidia.com
    * osnews.com
This list is not exhaustive, we are talking about millions of websites.

In addition to that, you cannot use DNS over HTTPs (DoH) with the most popular web companies, including and not limited to:

    * CloudFlare
    * OpenDNS
    * Google
DNS over TLS (DoT) is still working however it is not enabled by default in most operating systems. As a result, RKN has not yet started blocking it.

In addition to that, the OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols have essentially been disabled for years. What's new is that on June 9, the plain ShadowSocks protocol was disabled as well.

I've spoken with three major ISPs in Russia: Dom.ru (ER-Telecom), RosTelecom (RTK), and Megafon. They all deny any wrongdoing, claiming, "It doesn't depend on us." However, it totally does, as RKN has made them use their DPI equipment.

Some essential reads (in Russian): <https://neolurk.org/wiki/Чебурнет> <https://pikabu.ru/story/ya_uzhe_v_cheburnete_12833310> <https://otvet.mail.ru/question/267177907> <https://www.reddit.com/r/KafkaFPS/comments/1l9i1x0/с_праздничком_товарищи_прихожу_я_сейчас_на/>

  • by throwaway843 on 6/12/25, 11:22 PM

    X-Ray can become your friend, vless, vmess, trojan, etc. It's a pity these VPN-like protocols are largely unknown in the west.

    Shadowsocks, including outline, has long been dead.

  • by drysine on 6/16/25, 1:11 PM

    Out of the 6 sites you listed only the last one fails to open for some reason. Tor works too.

    Regarding "essential reads" - have you heard of Ukrainian drones controlled via mobile internet? Expect mobile internet to be off from time to time. That's the reality we live in until Russia wins this war.

    OTOH, I expect internet censorship to get stricter, like there are talks about blocking telegram again, and there is nothing good in it for us.

  • by pabs3 on 6/13/25, 3:41 AM

    Does archive.org still work? Perhaps folks could use Save Page Now to access some of the wider internet.

  • by pabs3 on 6/13/25, 5:53 AM

  • by itvision on 6/20/25, 11:31 AM

  • by toomuchtodo on 6/12/25, 11:19 PM

    Does Tor still work?