VPN as a Basis for Arrest and Pretrial Detention Russian courts have begun to treat VPNs and disappearing messages as signs of "conspiracy" when sending someone to a pretrial detention center. The use of VPNs and automatic destruction functions for messages is increasingly used by investigative authorities as arguments in arrest requests, as Eva Marcheva, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, spoke about this in October 2026. The human rights activist relies on the court decisions that were available to her. When submitting petitions to the court for the selection of preventive measures, investigators increasingly point out that the suspect is able to prevent the truth from being established because he takes "conspiratorial steps". Such measures include anonymization software, encryption of network traffic, instant messengers with end-to-end encryption, message hiding functions and contact list hiding. In one of the examples given, the court arrested a general practitioner in Moscow suspected of justifying terrorism due to a publication made in 2022. In choosing preventive measures, the court took into account, among other things, the investigator's claims regarding the use of conspiracy measures. In the past, when making decisions of this type, the courts mainly assessed the seriousness of the alleged act and the risks that the suspect would flee or influence witnesses. In July 2026, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, announced the preparation of a bill that provides for stricter penalties for crimes committed using information and communication technologies (ICT), artificial intelligence (AI), VPNs and proxy servers. According to him, it is proposed to introduce a new aggravating circumstance into the Criminal Code (CC) - committing a crime using ICT, including artificial intelligence technologies.

VPN as a Basis for Arrest and Pretrial Detention Russian courts have begun to treat VPNs and disappearing messages as signs of "conspiracy" when sending someone to a pretrial detention center. The use of VPNs and automatic destruction functions for messages is increasingly used by investigative authorities as arguments in arrest requests, as Eva Marcheva, a member of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, spoke about this in October 2026. The human rights activist relies on the court decisions that were available to her. When submitting petitions to the court for the selection of preventive measures, investigators increasingly point out that the suspect is able to prevent the truth from being established because he takes "conspiratorial steps". Such measures include anonymization software, encryption of network traffic, instant messengers with end-to-end encryption, message hiding functions and contact list hiding. In one of the examples given, the court arrested a general practitioner in Moscow suspected of justifying terrorism due to a publication made in 2022. In choosing preventive measures, the court took into account, among other things, the investigator's claims regarding the use of conspiracy measures. In the past, when making decisions of this type, the courts mainly assessed the seriousness of the alleged act and the risks that the suspect would flee or influence witnesses. In July 2026, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, announced the preparation of a bill that provides for stricter penalties for crimes committed using information and communication technologies (ICT), artificial intelligence (AI), VPNs and proxy servers. According to him, it is proposed to introduce a new aggravating circumstance into the Criminal Code (CC) - committing a crime using ICT, including artificial intelligence technologies.