Like China, Russia has banned VPN apps and services that allowed people to visit websites anonymously. The new law was signed by President Vladimir Putin today and will take effect on November 1.
This step by the Russian president is regarded by the government as a way to prohibit anonymous access to illegal content, and not restrict law-abiding citizens from accessing the open Internet.
If Russia follows China's example, the new law will also force Apple to remove all VPN apps from iOS App Store. Over the past weekend Apple removed all VPN apps from Chinese App Store. Because of the Great Firewall of China, many tourists used VPN to access blocked services like Facebook, Google Maps, etc. But now it has become extremely difficult for people in China to access any blocked services and sites.
This move by the Russian government means that it seeks to restrict people from negative political comments about their country on the Internet. In 2015, the Russian government passed a law that all citizens' internet data must be stored on Russian servers. In 2016, another law was passed requiring ISPs to store all user traffic data for at least a year. And now the country has limited access to the open Internet for its citizens as much as possible.