Senator Artem Sheikin, Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, appealed to the Ministry of Digital Development with a request to ban the installation of VPN services in RuStore that do not comply with the requirements Russian legislation. In this respect reports TASS referred to the text of the Sheikh’s letter addressed to Minister Maksut Shadayev.
“Given that RuStore is positioned as a Russian online application store for mobile devices, developed with the support of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, I ask you to conduct an internal audit and, if possible, conduct an internal audit. Criteria for placing VPN services in the specified store,” quotes Sheikin’s letter to TASS.
Senator Sheikin believes that one of the most important criteria for the deployment of VPN services is that they should not provide access to the recording of prohibited information.
The official also pointed out that RKN has prepared a draft order stating that sites and services containing information and functions that allow access to information prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation should be blocked. If approved, the RKN’s draft order will enter into force on March 1, 2024.
A previous study showed that 33% of Russians encountered with fake banking app clones also distributed in official stores.