President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill that prohibits services, including virtual private networks (VPNs), that enable users to skirt government censorship efforts. CNN reports.
The law will take effect on November 1.
VPNs use encryption to disguise the source of internet traffic, allowing users to view websites that are banned in their home countries. Many popular VPN services cost around $10 a month.
Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor maintains a blacklist of thousands of websites.
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Leonid Levin, chairman of a parliamentary committee on information policy and communications, said the law signed by Putin does not “introduce any new restrictions and especially no censorship.”
“My colleagues only included the restriction of access to information that is already forbidden by law or a court decision,” he told state news agency RIA Novosti earlier this month.
