The control of Russia’s internet, including the latest escalation of the war on VPNs, has reportedly shifted to the Federal Security Bureau’s (FSB) Second Service unit, headed by Colonel General Alexei Sedov, according to an investigation by The Bell.
Reportedly, the notoriously hardline unit is behind recent restrictions ranging from limits on calls in messengers, pressure to block the Telegram messenger, and forcing the private sector to restrict the usage of VPNs.
Sedov reportedly got a free hand on enforcing internet control from President Vladimir Putin himself before the August 2025 restrictions on WhatsApp and Telegram calls.
As covered by IntelliNews, Russian authorities have notably stepped up the war on VPNs, enlisting the private sector to monitor and restrict VPN usage among the population.
This tactic has reportedly been put into action at a meeting on March 30 with more than 20 country’s largest digital platforms and services, including e-commerce, media and tech firms, instructing them to introduce VPN restrictions on users by mid-April.
Reportedly, the Second Service officers were the ones handing written orders demanding they combat VPN at the meeting, according to The Bell.
The Second Service, formally the Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Fight Against Terrorism, is one of the FSB’s core domestic security arms. The Bell reminds that it is widely seen as the institutional successor to the Soviet KGB’s Fifth Directorate, the unit that targeted dissidents, monitored intellectuals and suppressed perceived ideological deviation.
In modern Russia, the service is tasked with counter-extremism, political surveillance and neutralising what the state defines as internal threats. Unlike more technical FSB departments, its methods are rooted in coercive enforcement rather than market coordination or regulatory compromise, The Bell notes.
The Bell linked the same unit to earlier high-profile operations, such as the 2020 poisoning attempt against opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the surveillance of opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.
According to a separate Bloomberg report, the hardline turn in internet restrictions has already triggered criticism inside the Kremlin. Some officials are reportedly worried that restrictions on Telegram, internet outages and blocking VPN would lead to popular discontent ahead of the State Duma elections in autumn 2026.
Trust in Putin has already fallen to its lowest level since before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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