Russian Banking Outage Disrupts Financial Services, Possibly Due to VPN Blocking
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Key Takeaways
- Major banks hit: A massive Russian banking outage disabled mobile applications, ATMs, and public transit payment systems across multiple regions, including Moscow.
- Sberbank disruption: Officials reportedly attributed the failure to internal routing issues at the nation's primary acquiring institution, which processes retail card transactions.
- Roskomnadzor VPN blocking: Cybersecurity experts suggest that the infrastructure collapse directly correlates with aggressive state-level initiatives to restrict VPN traffic.
A Russian banking outage recently crippled financial operations across the country, leaving millions of citizens unable to access mobile applications, withdraw cash, or process digital payments, allegedly due to VPN blocking initiatives. The disruption incapacitated services at major financial institutions, including Sberbank, VTB, Alfa Bank, T-Bank, and Gazprombank.
Russia's recent plans for a VPN crackdown include limiting usage, increasing costs, and restricting access to platforms for users.
Widespread Service Interruptions
According to a Telegram post by Natalia Kasperskaya, co-founder of cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, the disruption was caused by an internal failure at Sberbank. As Russia's largest acquiring bank, Sberbank's infrastructure collapse cascaded immediately through the retail sector.
Consequently, Moscow metro turnstiles and suburban train networks failed to process card payments, forcing transit authorities to grant passengers free access to mitigate severe station overcrowding. Kasperskaya suggested that the network collapse resulted from aggressive VPN-blocking initiatives.
As the state internet regulator Roskomnadzor intensified its efforts to restrict unauthorized traffic tunneling and enforce strict digital oversight, it also reportedly demanded that publications remove materials connecting the disruption to its blocking initiatives, The Record reported.
Digital Infrastructure Risks
As authorities continue to mandate platform restrictions and propose localized internet whitelists, the stability of essential financial services remains highly precarious.
In March, reports noted that Apple removed VPN clients from the Russian App Store amid a Telegram crackdown, and researchers claimed Russia’s state-backed MAX app may detect VPN usage.
In mid-February, Russia announced plans to restrict Telegram access to promote a state-controlled app, Max, with potential fines exceeding $820,000.
In April 2025, Apple removed the DVPN App following a takedown request from the local government, and in 2024, it removed nearly 100 VPNs from the Russian iOS App Store.
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