Russia drafted plans for AI that could block 95% of VPNs — but the idea has quietly vanished from its national roadmap (www.techradar.com)

Recent reports indicate that a draft of Russia's national AI strategy once included a plan to leverage AI for significantly enhancing VPN blocking effectiveness to 95%. This initiative aimed to analyze the characteristics of 70% of blocked VPN services, but the Digital Development Ministry has since stated that this proposal is absent from the latest draft of the plan. The initial excitement surrounding the 95% effectiveness target stemmed from a misinterpretation; it was never about accuracy but rather the volume of traffic successfully blocked, which poses a risk of increased false positives particularly impacting corporate VPN, cloud, and voice traffic. Despite the removal of this specific target, Russia's Roskomnadzor is still progressing with a separate machine learning project focused on traffic filtering, with plans to significantly boost funding for blocking infrastructure in the coming year. The ability to utilize AI in identifying and blocking VPN traffic remains a pressing issue, especially given previous failures to distinguish between permissible corporate and unauthorized VPN use. This highlights ongoing tensions between governmental control and digital privacy in Russia, as VPN services face increasing pressure and limitations in the country, emphasizing that while strategic proposals may vanish from official documents, the intent and capability to enforce tighter control are very much alive.