From Censor to VPN Coder

As Russia continues to tighten internet restrictions, more Russians are turning to VPNs to bypass government blocks. AIVPN, a service promoted on Russian and international tech platforms since this spring, promises to make VPN traffic nearly indistinguishable from ordinary internet use. But an investigation by independent outlet The Bell found that most of its code was written by a former official involved in monitoring Russia’s internet censorship system.

AIVPN creator Oleg Kirichenko, a Rostov-on-Don native and former missile forces officer now living in Turkey, says he developed the project to help people circumvent restrictions.

“I’ve disliked having my access to information restricted since childhood,” he said.

Kirichenko argues that deep packet inspection, or DPI, identifies many VPNs through recognizable connection patterns rather than weaknesses in encryption. AIVPN, he claims, disguises those patterns.

But GitHub records show that a contributor using the handle “vminakov” wrote more than 80% of the latest release’s code, according to The Bell’s analysis. He joined June 10, 2026, and accounts for 85% to 86% of the code in core components, including cryptography and traffic masking. He also developed most of the desktop and mobile clients.

That contributor is Vladislav Minakov, who spent about seven years working for organizations affiliated with Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator.

In 2017, Minakov was acting head of internet resource monitoring at RChTs TsFO (Central Federal District Radio Frequency Center). He later led experimental work at the Main Radio Frequency Center, or GRChTs, a Roskomnadzor-affiliated agency. There, he worked on Revizor ("Inspector"), a system that checks whether internet providers block prohibited websites.

Installed at 95% of Russian telecom operators, Revizor has helped authorities issue hundreds of fines annually. It now also checks whether providers allow traffic to bypass TSPU (technical means of countering threats), equipment using DPI to enforce government restrictions.

Minakov left GRChTs in 2023, according to LinkedIn. He now heads software development at GlavNIVTs (Main Research Computing Center), a government IT organization under Russia’s Presidential Property Management Department.

Kirichenko said he met Minakov through GitHub and considered his government experience potentially useful. He said he found nothing malicious in Minakov’s code.

Minakov confirmed his involvement in AIVPN but said it was unrelated to his government position. He acknowledged working on Revizor while denying any role in organizing internet blocks.

He described AIVPN as a tool for reliable data transmission, with circumventing censorship as only one possible application.

Independent IT expert Filipp Kulin, who knew Minakov during his Roskomnadzor-related work, described him as a staunch pro-war patriot who also sought contact with opposition figures.

At The Bell’s request, RKS Global specialists examined AIVPN. A preliminary review found no obvious problems, co-founder Sarkis Darbinyan said, but Minakov’s professional background raised concerns.

Mikhail Klimarev, who runs the ZaTelekom ("For Telecom") channel, said he would never install software developed by someone involved in implementing Russian internet censorship.

Kulin cited WGC VPN, linked to PMC Wagner, as another project with controversial origins. He said it was developed by people associated with the organization, including one also working on Russia’s Max messaging platform.

Kulin suggested that even supporters of Russia’s War on Ukraine need unrestricted internet access, including to download drone firmware.

He also questioned AIVPN’s technical premise, arguing that Roskomnadzor uses relatively simple VPN-blocking methods rather than sophisticated real-time behavioral analysis. Even if artificial intelligence is involved, he said, it likely analyzes accumulated traffic data offline.

“The idea might even be interesting,” Kulin said, “but it serves no real purpose.”