Why a Russian IP helps abroad

Kinopoisk and other Russian streaming services buy the rights to show movies in Russia and nearby countries. Abroad, plenty of titles simply won’t play, and with a Moscow address you stand a much better chance.

Sometimes a Russian site won’t open at all. Either your local provider blocks it, or the service itself shuts out foreign traffic. Gosuslugi, the Russian government services portal, may do that during DDoS attacks, as Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development has explained. Going through Moscow gets around both problems.

Three settings to get right

  1. Pick Russia yourself

    The Fastest tile never offers Moscow. In Location, type “Rus” into Find location. Belarus and Cyprus show up as well, so choose the row that is actually Russia.

  2. Leave Tunnel on Off

    Off sends all device traffic through the VPN, which is exactly what this VPN with a Russian server needs. With For Russia, Russian services would go direct from your local address and wouldn’t see the Moscow one.

  3. Keep Multihop on Automatic

    Multihop set to Russia, under Account → Settings, sounds like the same thing but isn’t. It routes traffic through an intermediate server in Russia, while websites still see the country you chose under Location. Only the Russia location itself gives you a Russian address.

Banks and Gosuslugi

The Moscow location runs in data centers, and Russian services pay more and more attention to VPNs. A bank may ask you to turn the VPN off before you sign in, or not let you in at all, and Kinopoisk’s support warns that movies may not play through an anonymizer. Every service has its own rules, and they change without notice.

Test your own bank and services on the trial before you pay for more. We call it Vanechka, and for $0.50 it gives you 3 days. If nothing works, the refund policy explains how to get your money back.

Neighboring countries

Russian websites also accept addresses from the neighbors. Almaty opens ChatGPT too, and it has its own page about the server in Kazakhstan. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are on the same short list.

All 187 locations

Questions from abroad

Gosuslugi opens fine already. Do I need this?

Possibly not. Russia’s digital ministry says the portal works from foreign IP addresses. A Moscow address helps when your provider blocks Russian services, or when the portal limits foreign traffic during an attack.

Does it work the same on a phone?

Yes, the app is the same everywhere, with one extra on Android. Under Tunnel → Manual, the Apps that bypass the VPN list takes individual apps, such as a local bank, out of the VPN. The step-by-step Android guide is in Russian.