Ask HN: Which VPN provider should one use from Russia?
22 comments
I don't think there is a good answer to this - given that MasterCard and Visa are blocked, i.e. that one can't pay for the VPN without external help. Free VPN providers are going to be enumerated and blocked. I think the most practical solution would be to get Tor (email to [email protected] to get a personalized non-blocked download link, or get Orbot from F-Droid on Android while it still works), and use it with a non-public obfuscated bridge.
If you still have a foreign SIM card with sufficient balance (or can order one through Vietnam while paying with a Mir card), try to use it, this is also an effective (but expensive) censorship circumvention device even in mainland China.
P.S. I have already relocated to the Philippines, so the advice above does not apply to me.
If you still have a foreign SIM card with sufficient balance (or can order one through Vietnam while paying with a Mir card), try to use it, this is also an effective (but expensive) censorship circumvention device even in mainland China.
P.S. I have already relocated to the Philippines, so the advice above does not apply to me.
What about free VPN like cloudflare warp?
It was already blocked, see https://www.aroged.com/2021/12/02/roskomnadzor-will-block-cl...
Shadowsocks FTW https://shadowsocks.org/en/index.html
I can't speak to availability from Russia, but Mullvad is frequently recommended.
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Self host with algo vpn
Tor, while not a VPN, is more likely to be able to connect out with bridges and pluggable transports like snowflake. Also, it's free.
Slow though for the most parts. And you wouldn't want to be congesting the TOR network for the likes of media consumption (e.g. YouTube) as it may be required for other people in more need.
Not sure if it works within Russia but Mullvad is easy to use and has good mobile and desktop apps.
Russians are more concerned with buckwheat price now rather than VPN.
I'd run this on AWS: https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand
Not Streisand. Too many services. End of life.
Use algo: https://github.com/trailofbits/algo
Use algo: https://github.com/trailofbits/algo
Perhaps on a Lightsail instance, an EC2 instance would potentially be pretty pricey. That or DigitalOcean/Linode/Hetzner or an independent VPS provider listed on the likes of lowendbox.com
AirVPN does not log and last I checked the warrant canary was still good.
No commercial one given the legal situation. Self host something on a vps
Why do they feel the need to use a VPN?
Is using a VPN going to paint a target on them?
Is using a VPN going to paint a target on them?
Russia is now blocking a bunch of sites like Twitter, Instagram and western news orgs after the invasion started.
You could just rent a cheap cloud server, install WireGuard and hand your relatives WireGuard QR codes.
That's what I did to help my colleagues stuck in China.
That's what I did to help my colleagues stuck in China.
So, which VPN provider should one use from Russia?