What streaming works in Russia — 2026 status with most Western services gone
Updated 2026-04-24
TL;DR
Russia's streaming market collapsed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Netflix exited March 2022, Spotify closed April 2022, Disney+ never officially launched, and Apple TV+ / HBO Max etc. also left or froze service. What remains are Russian-domestic platforms: Yandex's Kinopoisk Plus and Yandex Music, VK Video (VK group), Okko (Sber-owned), IVI, and Premier. Meta family (Instagram/Facebook) was designated 'extremist' and blocked. Twitch is partially restricted. VPN became legally risky in 2024 and was further criminalized 2025-09-01 (when used to access blocked content). Telegram MTProto proxies still work in some scenarios.
✓ Available
telegram
MTProto proxies work, main messaging app
youtubepremium
YouTube heavily throttled but not blocked; Premium not billed to RU
tiktok
Upload restricted, read-only still works
x
Throttled but not blocked
whatsapp
Only Meta product not banned
discord
Partial block since 2024-10, works via VPN
chatgpt
OpenAI doesn't serve RU, VPN required
claude
Anthropic doesn't serve RU, VPN required
perplexity
Restricted; works over VPN
binance
Limited under SDN sanctions, some features work
okx
Major exchange used by RU users
bybit
Continues operating in RU
✗ Not available / Restricted
netflix
Exited March 2022
spotify
Exited April 2022
disneyplus
Never officially launched
appletv
Apple Pay + subscriptions halted
hbomax
WBD exited RU market
instagram
Designated extremist + blocked March 2022
facebook
Banned alongside Instagram March 2022
linkedin
Blocked since Nov 2016 (data residency law)
twitch
Selective restrictions, streamers banned
Tips
Risks of using VPN inside Russia: VPN providers became illegal-ish in 2024; from 2025-09-01, deliberately searching for or accessing 'extremist' content is prosecutable regardless of VPN use. Inside Russia, legal exposure for accessing blocked Western platforms is significantly higher than in other countries. There's almost no legitimate reason to VPN out to Russia — Yandex/VK accept registrations without an RU IP. Telegram MTProto proxies are the main bypass tool inside Russia, but flagged search terms can still get accounts reported. AI tools (ChatGPT/Claude) refuse RU IPs — users must VPN out to a non-RU IP.