using a vpn is also illegal in russia since 2017 😅

I’d appreciate a source for that statement. :o

In November 2017, the Russian government passed a law banning the use of VPNs, Tor, and proxies to access unauthorized content. Since that time, it has been used to restrict specific VPN services.

The ban targets VPN providers who refuse to submit data to the Russian government. The threat of bans came in 2019. Two waves of bans followed in 2021, covering 15 VPNs. Only one Russia-based provider is known to have complied with the rules.

surfshark.com/blog/vpn-in-russia

reuters.com/…/us-russia-internet-idUSKBN1AF0QI

www.bbc.com/news/technology-41829726.amp

IIRC Pakistan also do this (vpn is blocked by defauld and you’ll need to submit documentation to justify using VPN if you want to use VPN in your company), though their main reason is to reduce VoIP spammers.

It has got to be easier to just make phone authentication better than to hope that nobody in the country is going to spam and then block people on the outside.

This has nothing to do with phone security though. Pakistan is the source of spam calls in many developed nations. Those spam call center operators was able to operate on the cheap from Pakistan due to cheap labors and cheap access to international calls via VoIP, so by blocking unregistered VoIP and VPN, they hoped to kill the spam call center industries (or at least that’s what they tell people when they started cracking on vpn a few years ago, might be legitimate if they’re getting pressure from western goverments to control the spam situation). This will also increase tax revenue because legitimate call centers will have to use licensed VoIP services that pay tax to Pakistan government.