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Censorship Monitor · Russia Last test

Is Telegram banned in Russia?

Yes. Since March 2026 Telegram has been almost unreachable in Russia without a VPN, although Roskomnadzor calls its measures “restrictions” and hasn’t announced a formal ban.

Today’s test · telegram.org

Blocked

telegram.org fails to open on Rostelecom and MTS, twice, while it opens from other countries.

Last confirmed
Seen in our tests since
29 Sep 2026 (may be older)
How it fails
The connection never completes
Tested on
Rostelecom and MTS
Test Telegram yourself › Everything we test in Russia

The official status

Telegram in Russia

Russia blocked Telegram once before, from April 2018, after it refused to give the FSB its encryption keys; that block was lifted in June 2020.

Roskomnadzor started restricting Telegram calls in August 2025 and announced wider restrictions on 10 February 2026, saying Telegram breaks Russian law, doesn’t fight fraud effectively and fails to protect users’ data. From mid-March 2026 the app and website became largely unreachable, and by April independent tests found signs of blocking in 95% of measurements.

In July 2026 Russia charged Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, in absentia with aiding terrorism; Reuters reported that Russians could reach Telegram only through a VPN.

What people use instead

Max, the state-backed messenger. Pavel Durov says the restrictions are meant to push Russians towards it.

Get past a block

How to use Telegram in Russia

A VPN connects you through a server in another country, so a block on Telegram in Russia no longer applies. Where VPNs themselves are blocked, you need one that can disguise its traffic, and you should set it up before you travel.

Using a VPN isn’t illegal in Russia, but VPN providers that won’t cooperate with the government are blocked.

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Around the world

Where else is Telegram blocked?

Telegram is also blocked in 3 other countries we test.

It opens in 20 of the 23 other countries with a current result.

Telegram in every country we test ›

Russia

What else is blocked in Russia?

31 of the other 66 sites and apps we test are blocked in Russia.

All 67 results for Russia ›

History

Changes for Telegram in Russia

No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.

Method

How we test

  • Every day, test machines on Rostelecom and MTS home connections open telegram.org.
  • A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
  • A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
  • Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
  • We test the website over home broadband. The app, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.

Full method ›

Questions

Telegram in Russia: questions

Does Telegram Work in Russia?

No. Since March 2026 Telegram has been almost unreachable in Russia without a VPN, although Roskomnadzor calls its measures “restrictions” and hasn’t announced a formal ban.

Has a Court Banned Telegram in Russia?

Not this time. In 2018 a Moscow court ordered it blocked; in 2026 Roskomnadzor calls its measures “restrictions”, but they have left Telegram almost unreachable without a VPN.

Can You Still Use Telegram in Russia?

Only with a workaround. Reuters reported in July 2026 that Russians can reach Telegram only through a VPN, although state bodies, including the Kremlin, still post there every day.

Free to use

Cite this result

Quote or republish today’s result with a link to this page: the monitor’s data is under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).

Source: vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/russia/telegram/

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