Instagram not opening in Russia: the 2022 block and where things stand now

Instagram has not opened in Russia since the spring of 2022, and since then a court ruling on Meta and new technical measures have been added to the block. This article covers why the social network was restricted, why Meta’s activities were declared extremist and banned, where things stand as of autumn 2026, and what our check from Russian and foreign networks showed.

Why Instagram is not working in Russia

On March 11, 2022, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, announced that it would restrict access to Instagram “on the basis of a demand from the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation.” As the reason, the regulator cited the spread on the network of materials containing “calls for violent actions against citizens of the Russian Federation,” including military personnel. This is how ComNews summarizes the regulator’s statement.

According to Forbes, the block began as early as Sunday, March 13, in the Far East regions and was completed overnight into Monday, March 14, Moscow time. Roskomnadzor added Instagram to the register of websites banned in Russia; the basis was the Prosecutor General’s demand of March 11 under Article 15.3 of the law “On Information.”

Meta declared extremist: what the court decided

On March 21, 2022, Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court, ruling on a claim by the Prosecutor General’s Office, declared Meta Platforms Inc., the company that owns Instagram, an extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia (Vedomosti). The Prosecutor General’s Office filed the claim on March 11: according to Vedomosti, it was a response to the company’s plans to allow users to post calls for violence against Russian citizens, including the military. On June 20, 2022, the Moscow City Court left this ruling unchanged. As Interfax explains, the ban covers Meta’s products, the social networks Facebook and Instagram, while the ruling does not extend to the WhatsApp messenger, “because it does not publicly distribute information.”

The prosecutor’s office spoke about users in court. According to Vedomosti, prosecutor Timur Abregov said that “people will not be held liable merely for using the products of the Meta company.” These were the words of the prosecution’s representative in a court hearing, not a provision of law, and we do not give legal assessments. How the law treats VPNs is covered in our article is it legal to use a VPN in Russia.

Instagram is still blocked: what is known as of autumn 2026

• June 15, 2025. Roskomnadzor told TASS: “There are no grounds for lifting the restrictions” (Kommersant).
• February 12, 2026. CNews, citing the Telegram channel Na Svyazi, wrote that Roskomnadzor had begun removing the domains of banned resources, including instagram.com and facebook.com, from the National Domain Name System. By the time of publication, the regulator had not responded to the outlet’s request.

As of October 10, 2026, we found no news that the restriction had been lifted.

Our October 10, 2026 check

From 17:52 to 17:54 UTC, we sent three requests to the www.instagram.com home page through Globalping, a network of measurement probes open to anyone: 12 checks, 10 of them from Russia. Separately, the page was requested by our own server abroad, directly rather than through a VPN connection.

• Home networks in Russia: in Tomsk (twice), on the MTS network in Novosibirsk, with GENERAL IT RUS in Krasnodar and with Kurier in Kursk, a connection could not be set up within 15 seconds. Another check from the MTS network ended with the address www.instagram.com not being found at all.
• Timeweb, Moscow (Globalping labels the point as a home network): a timeout the first time, and code 200 with the Instagram page the second time.
• Data centers in Russia: a timeout at Timeweb in Moscow, and the connection was refused at Selectel in Saint Petersburg.
• Netherlands and Germany: Amsterdam and Falkenstein, code 200.
• Our server (abroad): a direct request, code 200.

In total, the page reached 1 of the 10 Russian checks and all 3 foreign ones. In 7 of the 9 failures, the connection was not established before the timeout; once, the address was not found, and once, the connection was refused. The “address not found” error is consistent with the CNews report, but one check cannot establish the cause, just as it cannot predict how your own network will behave.

What it looks like for the user

If Instagram won’t load, there is usually no page explaining the block, and there was none in our checks either: they either waited for a response until the timeout or received an error right away. The browser is left with an endless load that ends in a connection error, or a message that the site cannot be found. Instagram itself shows nothing in such cases: in these checks, there was no response from it.

When Instagram won’t open: what to check

• Check whether the problem is on your side. Open a couple of other sites: if they load, while instagram.com hangs or “cannot be found,” the picture matches our check, and your router or plan is most likely not to blame.
• Don’t spend time on browser settings. In our check, the error came at the connection stage, earlier than any page loading, so clearing the cache, changing browsers or reinstalling the app hardly makes sense.
• Compare with a foreign address. Abroad, in Amsterdam, Falkenstein and on our server, the www.instagram.com home page opened every time in our check. How to make this comparison for free is described below.

A foreign Liberum VPN location: test it without paying

During the free Liberum VPN trial (7 days, no card), you can choose one of the foreign locations, the Georgian, German or Dutch one, and check how www.instagram.com responds to a foreign address. We cannot guarantee the result: our check used Globalping probes and our server connected directly, and this time we did not request this address with the Liberum VPN on. To do this: launch the Liberum VPS bot and start the trial, then pick a country abroad, move the subscription link into Happ or another app, connect and see whether www.instagram.com responds. The address at a location is shared: other customers use it too. What else the service offers is described on the home page.

What we don’t promise

• That www.instagram.com will respond through our location. We did not request it with the Liberum VPN connection on. Code 200 in our check came from Amsterdam and Falkenstein, from other companies’ sites, as well as when our server abroad requested the page directly.
• That other sections and the app will respond. Our check covered a single home page; we did not touch the app or account sign-in.
• That the connection will not fall under restrictions. VPN services fall under them too; why this happens is explained in why VPNs stop working.
• That the restriction will be lifted. The Moscow City Court left the ruling banning Meta’s activities unchanged in June 2022, and in June 2025 Roskomnadzor said there were no grounds for lifting the restrictions.
• That a prosecutor’s words in court are a guarantee. It was a statement made in a court hearing, not a provision of law; it is better to discuss your own situation with a lawyer.

Key takeaways

• Instagram has been restricted in Russia since March 14, 2022, at the demand of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
• On March 21, 2022, a court declared Meta an extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia; the ruling does not extend to WhatsApp.
• In June 2025, Roskomnadzor said there were no grounds for lifting the restrictions.
• On October 10, 2026, the www.instagram.com home page opened in 1 of 10 checks from Russia and at all three points abroad.
• The response of www.instagram.com to a foreign address can be compared during the Liberum VPN trial: 7 days, no card and no guarantee of the result.