Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development sent a formal letter to hosting providers, CDN networks and cybersecurity companies requesting that IP addresses be removed from a special “whitelist” and placed into isolated subnets.
This measure aims to eliminate bans on unnecessary resources such as VPN services, pharmacies, and pornographic websites. The problem stems from the architecture of the Internet: a single IP address is often shared by many different clients, resulting in third-party websites being inadvertently protected alongside government-sanctioned platforms. The department’s initiative has received support from FSB employees and DDoS attack protection market representatives.
The “whitelist” system began to actively take shape in the spring of 2025, under the background that the mobile Internet was regularly shut down to ensure security. By April 2026, the list includes more than 500 domestic services, including transport platforms, government portals and marketplaces that continue to operate during regional communication restrictions.
