A former employee of Roskomandzor who participated in the Internet blocking control system turned out to be the developer of the VPN service Vladislav Minkov, who worked for about seven years in the structures of Roskomandzor, wrote most of the code for the VPN service AIVPN, which is designed to bypass Internet blocks, the Bell found out. The service began to be promoted in the spring of 2026. Its developers claim that AIVPN disguises traffic as normal Internet connections so that deep filtering (DPI) systems cannot detect the VPN. Initially, the project was introduced by IT entrepreneur Oleg Kirichenko, but a GitHub analysis showed that Minkov is responsible for about 88% of the source code of one version of the program. Minkov worked at the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRFC), subordinate to Roskomandzor. There he worked on the automatic "inspector" system, which checks whether the providers limit access to prohibited websites. In 2023 he left the GRCHTs. Minkov now heads the development department at GlavNIVTs, a structure of the Russian President's Administration. In addition, he holds the position of digital transformation manager at an agency for strategic initiatives. Minkov confirmed to the Bell that he is involved in the development of AIVPN, but emphasized that the project is not related to his main job in the government. He also said that he did indeed work at GRCHT and was involved in the "auditing" AS, but stated that he was not involved in organizing the blockade. "I worked in Telecom, including in GRChTS from a control position, and in other places, including debugging communication channels. Lately there have been problems with legitimate traffic: connecting even two data centers is sometimes a challenge. The AIVPN protocol allows you to do all of this,” he said. His partner at AIVPN, Kirichenko, in a note to reporters, suggested that Minkov's experience with government agencies could even come in handy. "When a person works in these buildings, he knows the situation from the other side as well.

A former employee of Roskomandzor who participated in the Internet blocking control system turned out to be the developer of the VPN service Vladislav Minkov, who worked for about seven years in the structures of Roskomandzor, wrote most of the code for the VPN service AIVPN, which is designed to bypass Internet blocks, the Bell found out. The service began to be promoted in the spring of 2026. Its developers claim that AIVPN disguises traffic as normal Internet connections so that deep filtering (DPI) systems cannot detect the VPN. Initially, the project was introduced by IT entrepreneur Oleg Kirichenko, but a GitHub analysis showed that Minkov is responsible for about 88% of the source code of one version of the program. Minkov worked at the Main Radio Frequency Center (GRFC), subordinate to Roskomandzor. There he worked on the automatic "inspector" system, which checks whether the providers limit access to prohibited websites. In 2023 he left the GRCHTs. Minkov now heads the development department at GlavNIVTs, a structure of the Russian President's Administration. In addition, he holds the position of digital transformation manager at an agency for strategic initiatives. Minkov confirmed to the Bell that he is involved in the development of AIVPN, but emphasized that the project is not related to his main job in the government. He also said that he did indeed work at GRCHT and was involved in the "auditing" AS, but stated that he was not involved in organizing the blockade. "I worked in Telecom, including in GRChTS from a control position, and in other places, including debugging communication channels. Lately there have been problems with legitimate traffic: connecting even two data centers is sometimes a challenge. The AIVPN protocol allows you to do all of this,” he said. His partner at AIVPN, Kirichenko, in a note to reporters, suggested that Minkov's experience with government agencies could even come in handy. "When a person works in these buildings, he knows the situation from the other side as well.