For a long time, the topic of introducing charges for foreign traffic was widely discussed in the Russian information space. This would have meant that users would have to pay for VPN as well as for any other access to services located abroad. Specific amounts were even mentioned — from 150 to 4,500 rubles per gigabyte. However, today the Ministry of Digital Development closed the question that had been worrying mobile internet users for the past several months. There will be no charge for foreign traffic in Russia — this was directly stated by the deputy head of the ministry at a State Duma session.
There will be no charge for foreign traffic. Hooray!
What the Ministry of Digital Development Stated About Foreign Traffic Charges
Deputy head of the Ministry of Digital Development Ivan Lebedev stated at a State Duma session that charges for foreign traffic are no longer being considered. This is the official position of the ministry, not a rumor or forecast, and it overrides previous discussions. Previously, this was seriously discussed as a means of ultimately banning VPN in Russia.
Here is the context for those who don’t understand what this is actually about.
In March, Forbes reported citing a source that the head of the Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadaev allegedly asked operators to introduce charges for international traffic exceeding the limit starting May 1. According to that information, the issue concerned exceeding 15 GB of international traffic per month on mobile networks. It was also reported that Russians could have been required to pay an average of 150 rubles for each extra gigabyte, and the measure was being considered to combat VPN and banned services.
Foreign Traffic and VPN — How They Are Connected
The mechanism discussed in spring would have primarily hit those who use VPN — programs that route internet traffic through foreign servers. It is precisely this traffic that is considered “foreign,” and any service outside Russia would have increased this counter.
For iPhone and iPad owners, this would have affected not only manually enabling VPN. Some familiar Apple services operate through foreign servers, so an attempt to introduce a separate tariff for international traffic would potentially have affected ordinary background tasks as well.
VPN services on iPhone route traffic through foreign servers
Why the Foreign Traffic Charge Was Never Introduced
The rejection of the idea is related not only to the users’ position. According to Vedomosti, operators asked the Ministry of Digital Development to postpone the introduction of charges for VPN traffic back in spring.
The reason is technical. Operators were not ready to charge within the timeframe indicated by the regulator due to difficulties in setting up accounting and billing systems for subscribers. In other words, even if desired, it would not have been possible to quickly launch such a mechanism — the operators’ infrastructure was not adapted for this.
Operators’ accounting systems turned out to be not ready for introducing charges
What Foreign Traffic Means for Mobile Internet Users
The practical conclusion is simple: there will be no additional charge for foreign traffic for now. Mobile internet tariffs for those who use VPN or foreign services will not change due to this initiative.
It is worth keeping several points in mind:
- What has been officially cancelled is specifically the charge for foreign traffic, not any restrictions on VPN operation in general
- The statement concerns mobile networks and the discussed threshold of 15 GB of international traffic
- The situation with internet regulation in Russia is changing, so this topic cannot be considered final
Will Operators Charge Money for Using VPN
As of today, there is no cause for concern: there will be no separate payment for international traffic, and regular users are not overpaying for anything. If you were thinking about conserving traffic due to a possible tariff — this is no longer relevant.
But you shouldn’t fully relax either. The initiative was not adopted partly for technical reasons, and the topic of VPN and foreign traffic regulation in Russia remains open. So it still makes sense to follow official statements from the Ministry of Digital Development — especially for those who actively use foreign services and VPN on iPhone.
