Massive Bank Outage Hits Russia
On April 3, 2026, millions of Russians were unable to transfer money, withdraw cash, or make card payments for several hours. The disruption affected major banks including Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, T-Bank, and Gazprombank, as well as the national Fast Payment System (SBP).
VPN Blocking Blamed for the Crash
Natalya Kasperskaya, co-founder of Kaspersky Lab and president of InfoWatch, publicly blamed Russia's telecom regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN) for the outage. According to Kasperskaya, the disruption was a direct result of the agency's aggressive campaign to block VPN services across the country.
She cited technical experts who stated that it is impossible to effectively block VPN traffic without disrupting legitimate internet services. The deep packet inspection (DPI) systems used by Roskomnadzor cannot reliably distinguish between VPN traffic and regular encrypted connections used by banks and other critical infrastructure.
Retraction and Apology
Later that same day, Kasperskaya published a retraction after speaking with the head of Roskomnadzor, who attributed the outage to Sberbank's internal systems. She apologized to the agency but noted that the lack of transparent government communication creates fertile ground for speculation.
Media Censorship
Roskomnadzor demanded that several Russian media outlets delete articles linking the outage to VPN blocking, calling such information an attempt to "destabilize the socio-political situation." Forbes Russia and the Mash Telegram channel complied with the demands.
Why This Matters for VPN Users
This incident highlights the growing tension between government internet control and the stability of digital infrastructure. As authorities expand VPN blocking efforts, the risk of collateral damage to essential services increases. For users who rely on VPN for privacy, security, and access to information, choosing a reliable VPN service with advanced anti-blocking technology becomes increasingly important.