As part of the I Am Online campaign, the Anti-Corruption Foundation has released a report on how internet censorship in Russia has evolved in recent years and why bypassing blocks has become far more difficult than it used to be.

The report explains how Russia’s internet blocking model evolved from a relatively coarse system based on blocklists, DNS interference, and IP blocking into a distributed but centrally managed deep-packet-inspection architecture built around TSPU, the “technical means to counter threats” mandated by the 2019 Sovereign Internet law.

This is not just a historical overview. The report examines the current state of internet censorship in Russia, outlines the key technological shifts of recent years, and offers practical conclusions for those trying to understand how blocking works today and which circumvention tools may still remain effective.

We prepared this report in part for researchers, IT specialists, digital rights advocates, developers, and technology companies interested in protecting users and integrating anti-censorship solutions into their products.