Introduction of additional fees for VPN traffic in Russia postponed until autumn

The Russian government has delayed the introduction of a surcharge for international internet traffic exceeding 15 GB. Originally scheduled for June 1st, this measure may now be postponed until the autumn months or after the State Duma elections. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

This initiative is seen as a way to combat the use of VPN services. Telecom operators classify such traffic as international, meaning the price increase was expected to reduce internet access via circumvention tools. However, it turned out there was not enough time to implement the mechanism.

Sources in the telecom market report that operators need another 3–4 months for technical preparation. The main problem lies in technical complexities related to updating tariffs, including archived packages, and improving billing systems.

The biggest question arises in determining exactly which traffic should be considered "foreign." For example, it is not yet clear how to account for traffic from Google services that have their own servers in Russia, corporate VPN networks, or proxy servers in messengers.