If you’re a designer, front-end developer, or simply someone who’s used to opening mockups in a browser, the past few days may have been stressful. Figma greets many users from Russia with endless loading or a dry “connection error” message. And it’s not just you: thousands of people across the country have complained about outages all at once. The most interesting part of this story is that Figma itself claims that everything is perfectly fine on their end. Let’s see what’s going on this time.
Figma unexpectedly stopped working
Figma Outage in Russia: What We Know About User Complaints
It all started on May 29. According to the Detector404 monitoring service, that day saw a sharp spike in complaints about the site being unavailable when trying to access it from a Russian IP address. By the next day, complaints had turned into a full-blown wave.
Complaints about Figma continue to come from different regions
Within 24 hours, over 2,000 reports came in from various parts of the country. Monitoring graphs show two clear spikes: the first occurred during the day, and the second started the following morning and continues to this day. Problems have been reported in roughly two dozen cities, with the most reports coming from St. Petersburg and the Novosibirsk region.
The picture is roughly the same for everyone. The web version of the editor won’t load, the app throws a network error, and when trying to log into an account, the connection drops. This isn’t an isolated glitch but rather a systematic outage that has hit many users at once.
Why Figma Won’t Open Even Though Servers Are Running
And here’s where things get really strange. If you visit the official Figma status page, there’s a calm green banner: all systems are operational. Real-time collaboration server, API, web application, AWS infrastructure — every item shows Operational. No incidents have been registered in recent days.
Meanwhile, Figma itself shows no errors
Global monitoring systems confirm this: there is no major outage worldwide. This means the problem is purely local in nature and mainly affects Russia.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that not everyone is affected. Some users and editorial teams can access the service from Russian addresses without any issues. For some, Figma is completely down, while their office neighbor has no problems at all. This kind of patchwork pattern is typical of situations where the issue isn’t with the service itself.
Reasons for the Figma Outage in Russia: Main Theories
Let’s be honest right away: there is no official explanation yet. Roskomnadzor (Russia’s communications regulator) has not publicly announced any blocking of the service, and neither has Figma. So all we have are theories. Here are the main ones, with the caveat that none of them have been confirmed. The first theory is technical. A routing failure or issues with specific internet providers. This would explain why some people can’t access Figma while others have no problems — traffic takes different paths.
The second theory involves network-level restrictions. When access to a resource is restored through international routes but the site is silent on a regular Russian connection, this is a classic sign of traffic filtering. Moreover, the regulator has recently ramped up blocking of VPNs and proxies, so the network theory looks quite plausible.
The third theory relates to the legacy of 2022. It’s worth remembering that Figma restricted its operations with Russian users several years ago: the company halted sales and froze corporate accounts under sanctions. However, free access to the editor was formally preserved. It’s possible the company has simply tightened some restrictions without making a public announcement. Which of these theories is closest to the truth is impossible to say. Most likely, clarity won’t come until one of the parties involved decides to comment.
What to Do If Figma Isn’t Working and You Need to Open a Mockup
Let’s get to the practical side, because work has to go on. Users report that access to the service returns when traffic is routed through other countries. We’ll just add that free solutions come with plenty of pitfalls.
Enabling a VPN immediately allows you to open Figma without any problems
It’s much more useful to think about a safety net that doesn’t depend on access whims. Here’s what you should do today:
- Export your important projects to your computer — Figma allows you to export files in .fig format and as graphics (PNG, SVG, PDF) in case you can’t access your account at all tomorrow;
- Save key assets and components separately so you don’t have to rebuild your design system from scratch;
- Discuss a backup workflow with your team — in case the outage drags on for weeks rather than days;
- Look into alternatives: open-source Penpot, the Russian-made Lunacy by Icons8, or offline tools like Sketch on macOS.
Of course, these options can’t fully replace Figma — it’s simply too deeply embedded in designers’ workflows. But having a Plan B on hand is far more reassuring than wondering every morning whether the service will open today or not.
For now, the situation looks like this: since late May, Figma has not been opening for a significant portion of users in Russia, the reasons have not been officially stated, and the company itself shrugs and shows a green status. As soon as clear comments appear from Figma or regulators, we’ll be sure to report on it.
