VPN becomes necessary to access Wikipedia in Russia
Victoria
2026-08-29
Read time
1 minutes

On the night of August 28, Russian residents encountered widespread difficulties when trying to open the popular online encyclopedia. By morning, the number of malfunction reports exceeded several hundred, with users noting that the website only loaded when using specialized tools to bypass restrictions.
Statistics on technical malfunctions and resource availability
According to technical measurements, the availability level of the web resource dropped to approximately 50 percent. During the morning hours, the rate of network anomalies when attempting to access the Russian-language segment of the site approached nearly 100 percent, while for the English-language section, this figure stood at about 75 percent. Subsequently, the anomaly rate for the Russian version stabilized at 62 percent.
This online encyclopedia, which generates around 27 billion monthly views globally, remained one of the last major international platforms operating in the country without restrictions. At present, official government agencies have not released any statements regarding blocks or the introduction of access limits. Additionally, the American company Apple previously blocked workarounds for installing sanctioned applications in Russia.
Using the reliable HiroVPN service will allow you to maintain stable access to necessary informational resources and bypass emerging network restrictions.


