[Russia] Blocking Tor resources (2024 edition)

This ticket documents the ongoing censorship in Russia targeting Tor in 2024.

Below some issues related to this censorship:

App Store censorship

Apple has been blocking apps in Russia, which includes some fake Tor apps:

• Apple blocking VPN apps in Russia: https://github.com/net4people/bbs/issues/377.
• Some fake Tor apps were affected too: https://applecensorship.com/app-store-monitor/test/Onion%20Browser

Bridges

There have been specific issues with Tor bridges in Russia. More details are available here:

• Tor bridges discussion (ntc.party): https://ntc.party/t/%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0-obfs4/8006/7

Mirrors blocked

Some Tor-related mirrors have been blocked in Russia. Example:

• https://tor.calyxinstitute.org (blocked in 2024-05)
• GitHub TB-Manual: https://torproject.github.io/manual/ (blocked in 2024-07)