Why has my VPN stopped working in Russia?

Because the blocking is protocol-level, not address-level. Filtering equipment recognises the shape of a VPN handshake, so changing server or port does not help. What helps is traffic that does not look like a VPN.

Can I pay without a Russian card?

Yes. You create an account number and fund it with Monero or another coin. No card, no email address, no name. The account number is the whole login.

Is it legal to use a VPN in Russia?

Using one is not in itself a criminal offence for an individual, though services that fail to comply with local blocking requirements are themselves blocked and the rules have been tightening. We are a UK company and cannot give you legal advice on your situation.

Do you keep logs that could be handed over?

We hold no connection logs, no activity logs, and no timestamps. There is a warrant canary at /canary. We cannot hand over what was never collected.

VPN for Russia

Russia blocks the VPNs people use to reach blocked sites, not only the sites themselves. Deep packet inspection recognises VPN protocols by their traffic pattern, which is why mainstream apps stopped connecting there. Pangea disguises its traffic as ordinary HTTPS and falls through five transports until one holds.

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What you are up against

Protocol-level blocking

TSPU equipment installed at operator level identifies VPN handshakes directly. Plain WireGuard and OpenVPN are recognised and throttled or dropped, whatever server they point at.

Blocking that comes and goes

Filtering is tightened regionally and around events, so something that worked last month may not today. A single fixed protocol is fragile; a cascade that retries is not.

App store removals

VPN apps are regularly pulled from the Russian App Store and Google Play. Our desktop app is downloaded from our own site and GitHub, not a store.

Payment friction

Russian cards frequently fail with foreign processors. Monero and other cryptocurrency work without a card, an email address, or a name.

What Pangea puts on the wire

VLESS+REALITY, Cloak, Shadowsocks, Hysteria2 and NaiveProxy, tried in that order automatically. Each disguises the tunnel differently, so filtering that catches one does not catch the rest.

Auto mode finds the way

The app tries each transport in order until one connects. Or pin one in the Connection Method setting.

1VLESS+REALITYBorrows a real site's handshakeBlocked in this example
2CloakHides in ordinary HTTPSBlocked in this example
3ShadowsocksNo TLS to inspectBlocked in this example
4Hysteria2Built for throttled networksBlocked in this example
5NaiveProxyIndistinguishable from ChromeConnected. Open internet.

Connected. Open internet.

Read the full explanation

Before you start

Filtering here changes constantly. Five transports, plus updates when one stops working, is how the app keeps up.
Servers in London, Amsterdam and New York, with more available on request.
Pay with Monero and there is no card, email address or name attached to the account.
Using a VPN is not itself a criminal offence for an individual in Russia. We are a UK company and cannot advise you on your own situation.
Desktop app for Windows and macOS. iPhone goes through Shadowrocket; Android is on the waiting list.

Questions

Why has my VPN stopped working in Russia?: Because the blocking is protocol-level, not address-level. Filtering equipment recognises the shape of a VPN handshake, so changing server or port does not help. What helps is traffic that does not look like a VPN.
Can I pay without a Russian card?: Yes. You create an account number and fund it with Monero or another coin. No card, no email address, no name. The account number is the whole login.
Is it legal to use a VPN in Russia?: Using one is not in itself a criminal offence for an individual, though services that fail to comply with local blocking requirements are themselves blocked and the rules have been tightening. We are a UK company and cannot give you legal advice on your situation.
Do you keep logs that could be handed over?: We hold no connection logs, no activity logs, and no timestamps. There is a warrant canary at /canary. We cannot hand over what was never collected.

If you are somewhere else

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Five days free with no card. Install it, sign in, and see how it performs where you are.

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