Russia restricts use of foreign SIM cards, blocking censorship circumvention and Ukrainian drone navigation

Russia has significantly restricted the use of foreign SIM cards, effectively preventing users from bypassing the country's internet censorship. Roaming traffic is now subject to strict filtering under the same rules applied by Russian mobile operators.

Source: Russian propaganda media outlet Izvestia, citing representatives of the telecommunications industry and Russia's Ministry of Digital Development

Details: Internet access via foreign SIM cards, which had previously been routed through foreign operators' infrastructure and allowed users to circumvent restrictions imposed by the censorship authority Roskomnadzor, is now fully controlled by Russian secret services. Russia's Ministry of Digital Development confirmed that all roaming traffic is now subject to the country's standard filtering and blocking regime.

Websites included on the Russian authorities' approved whitelist remain accessible.

Roaming traffic is filtered using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology, which identifies blocked services based on indirect indicators such as connection signatures, timing and data volume, before restricting access.

Problems with foreign SIM cards in Russia began around a week and a half ago. The country currently has about two million such SIM cards in use, around 500,000 of which are used for regular internet access.

According to the Russian authorities, the measures also have a military purpose. Russia's Ministry of Digital Development has claimed that restricting roaming traffic and blocking foreign SIM cards is necessary to prevent their use in Ukrainian drones.

Russian officials have repeatedly alleged that, during long-range strikes inside Russia, Ukraine's defence forces have used mobile networks and SIM cards – including those issued by foreign operators – to update drone flight paths in real time, collect telemetry and transmit video.

Background:

• Russian ruler Vladimir Putin previously instructed the Federal Security Service (FSB) to implement internet access based on a whitelist system. The move would effectively turn Russia's internet into a closed, isolated network similar to that of North Korea.
• In April 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Kremlin is restricting access to alternative sources of information in advance to prevent large-scale protests in the event of a major mobilisation. A complete digital blackout, he argued, would deprive Russians of the ability to coordinate protests and monitor queues at border crossings for those seeking to leave the country.
• On 10 July, mobile internet was largely shut down in St Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, with users limited to an approved whitelist of websites. Russian authorities justified the tighter censorship by citing the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.
• Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say the Kremlin is deliberately using Ukrainian drone strikes as a pretext to rapidly expand what they describe as a "digital gulag".

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