Kremlin’s digital crackdown: VPN restrictions ‘a brand new, refined effort for censorship in Russia’ | EUROtoday

Alison Sargent is happy to welcome Hugh WILLIAMSON. As Human Rights Watch Director for Europe and Central Asia, he views Russia’s restrictions on VPNs as a part of an structure of censorship that has expanded considerably for the reason that 2022 Ukraine invasion started. He argues that these insurance policies mirror a deliberate effort by the Kremlin to curtail entry to impartial data, suppress public debate, and consolidate political management. He highlights the unintended penalties of this technique: rising public frustration, financial disruption, and political threat for the federal government.