How to Make Video Calls with Russia: Alternatives to WhatsApp and Telegram

Current situation: WhatsApp has been blocked in Russia since 12 February 2026, Telegram has been working only intermittently since that same week, and FaceTime has been blocked since December 2025. Even so, plenty of people manage to reach Russia on WhatsApp some days and not others, without using any VPN at all. It isn’t luck and it isn’t magic, and I’ll explain exactly why it happens.

If you want the short answer: today the most reliable way to make a video call with someone in Russia is for that person to have an active VPN and for you both to use WhatsApp or Telegram as usual. If they don’t want to or can’t, the easiest alternative is a browser-based video call (Yandex Telemost or Zoom), because it doesn’t force anyone to install odd apps or make you create Russian accounts. Below I break it all down, option by option. And if what you want to know is whether you’ll be able to use WhatsApp when you travel to Russia, I cover it in Does WhatsApp Work in Russia?

This is step 8 of my guide to planning a trip to Russia in 10 steps, where you’ll find everything else in order.

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What happened: from «calls don’t connect» to «the app doesn’t work»

When I first wrote this article, back in August 2025, the problem was only about calls. Roskomnadzor (Russia’s telecoms regulator) limited voice and video calls on WhatsApp and Telegram, claiming they were being used for phone scams and to recruit people for criminal purposes. Written messages still went through normally.

Since then things have gone much further. Here’s the full sequence, so you know where we stand:

Date	What happened
13 August 2025	Roskomnadzor limits voice and video calls on WhatsApp and Telegram
1 September 2025	MAX, the Russian state messenger, starts coming pre-installed on every phone sold in Russia
6 October 2025	Foreign SIM cards are left 24 hours without mobile internet or SMS on first connecting to a Russian network
3 December 2025	FaceTime blocked
10 February 2026	Roskomnadzor officially begins throttling Telegram nationwide
12 February 2026	WhatsApp blocked: its domains are removed from Russia’s national domain name system
March-April 2026	The squeeze on Telegram becomes near-total
June-July 2026	MAX disappears from the App Store and Google Play, and the EU sanctions VK and the company behind the app
July 2026	Traffic from foreign SIMs and eSIMs starts being filtered under the same rules as Russian operators’ traffic
Summer 2026	WhatsApp starts working again in patches without a VPN, even though the block has not been officially lifted

In late July 2026 there was also a headline that alarmed a lot of people: the FSB charged Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, with aiding terrorist activity, and Rosfinmonitoring added him to its list of terrorists and extremists. Let’s be clear, because I’ve been asked this several times: that does not make using Telegram illegal. Russian lawyers quoted in the press have spelled it out: writing, reading channels and using the app remain perfectly legal for an ordinary user. The problems are technical, not legal.

If you want the full picture of what’s happening to Telegram there, I’ve covered it in this guide to Telegram in Russia.

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Why it sometimes works without a VPN and then suddenly stops

This is the question I get most often and the one almost nobody explains properly: «but I talk to my sister-in-law on WhatsApp and she doesn’t use any VPN, so it can’t be blocked, right?». It very much is. The thing is that the Russian block isn’t a concrete wall, it’s a multi-layered sieve, and that sieve keeps jamming.

Let me explain it without jargon. Russian operators are required by law to install filtering equipment that inspects internet traffic and cuts off anything on the blacklist. It doesn’t cut everything the same way: Telegram is taken down at the routing level, so the connection can’t even be established, whereas WhatsApp is allowed to connect and then has its session killed as soon as the system spots which domain it’s headed for. Two different techniques, which is why Telegram and WhatsApp don’t behave the same way on the same day in the same place.

And that system breaks down often. The technical analyses published so far point to four reasons:

• The equipment overloads and loosens its grip. When the filtering system is saturated or restarts to update its lists, it lets traffic through without inspecting it, because the alternative would be knocking every one of the operator’s customers offline.
• Server addresses change constantly. Big services rotate their IP addresses all the time and the filter can’t always keep up.
• The blacklists don’t sync at the same time. There are thousands of these boxes across the country: while one is already blocking, the one in the next region may keep letting traffic through for hours.
• Traffic doesn’t always come back the same way it left. If the request goes out through a node with the filter and the reply comes back through one without it, the system can’t reconstruct the conversation and lets it pass.

That’s why, since the start of summer 2026, a great many users in Russia have been able to use WhatsApp without a VPN, even though Roskomnadzor has confirmed no decision was taken to lift the block. Telegram behaves similarly and even more erratically: the same person may find it flies on home wifi and crawls on mobile data, or exactly the other way round.

The practical takeaway: don’t count on it. Working today doesn’t mean working tomorrow. If you have an important video call (a job interview, some paperwork, a chat with an elderly relative), always agree a plan B in advance.

And one clarification that saves a lot of confusion: there is no block at your end. From the UK, the US, Canada or anywhere in Europe you can use WhatsApp and Telegram completely normally. The filter is always on the Russian side, so the person with the problem (and the one who has to put the fix on their phone) is whoever is over there.

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Option 1. A VPN on the Russian end (what Russians themselves do)

A VPN is, put simply, a tunnel: the phone sends all its traffic encrypted to a server outside Russia and, from there, it goes out onto the internet. Since the Russian filter can’t see what’s inside the tunnel, WhatsApp and Telegram work again, calls included.

It’s the best option when you both already use WhatsApp or Telegram and don’t want to switch apps. But there are conditions worth knowing first:

• The VPN is needed by the person in Russia, not by you. If your contact won’t install one, there’s nothing you can do from your end.
• It has to be installed before arriving in the country. From inside Russia, VPN websites and their app store listings are usually blocked, so downloading one there is a nightmare. If you’re the one travelling, leave it installed and tested at home.
• Better to have two or three, not one. Blocks don’t hit every service or every region equally, and it’s normal for the one that works well this week to fail the next. Since February 2026 the most common protocols (WireGuard and OpenVPN) have been blocked, so look for services that offer obfuscation modes.
• Using one isn’t a crime, but advertising or promoting them is, and it has been punishable by fines in Russia since September 2025. A tourist or a private individual isn’t going to be fined for having a VPN on their phone.
• During mobile internet shutdowns it’s useless. I explain that further down, because it matters.

I go into detail on which services hold up best and how to set them up in my guide to VPNs in Russia.

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Option 2. A browser video call (the easiest if the other person doesn’t want any hassle)

This is what I recommend when the person in Russia is your 70-year-old mother-in-law, your landlord or a tour guide, meaning someone who is not about to start installing VPNs. The idea is simple: make the video call from a web page, with no apps and no accounts.

Platform	How it works in Russia	What you need to know
Yandex Telemost	Perfectly, it’s Russian	Runs in the browser. Whoever creates the meeting needs a Yandex account; the guest joins with the link without registering. No time limit
Zoom	Works, not blocked	The most international option. The free version cuts group meetings off at 40 minutes, but one-to-one calls have no such limit
Google Meet	Patchy	Officially not blocked and Roskomnadzor has always denied restricting it, but there are outages and slowdowns depending on region and operator. I wouldn’t make it my first choice
Microsoft Teams	Works	Fine, though it’s among the services that could stop operating there because of sanctions
Jitsi Meet	Works	Free, no account and nothing to install. An excellent backup

The trick that works best: let the person in Russia create the meeting and send you the link. That way the service you use is one you already know works at their end, and all you have to do is click.

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Option 3. Apps that work in Russia and that you can install from abroad

If you’d rather have a normal messaging app, with its contact list and its video calls, there are four candidates. All four download without any problem from your local App Store or Google Play:

• IMO. It’s the surprise of 2026 and right now the most stable foreign app inside Russia. It’s American, works without restrictions, accepts registration with both Russian and foreign numbers, and holds up well for messages as well as voice and video calls. Many people moved to it after Viber was blocked. If you’re looking for «whatever simply works right now», this is it. An Italian reader recommended it to me in my October 2026 survey as an alternative to WhatsApp.
• Gem Space. Less well known and based in the UK. It has chats, voice and video calls, isn’t on Roskomnadzor’s list of blocked resources and works in Russia without a VPN in 2026. A French reader flagged it in the same survey, also as a WhatsApp replacement. Before relying on it, make a test call with your contact.
• WeChat. The Chinese classic. In Russia it works for chats, groups, voice and video calls, with a built-in translator. The weak spot is registration: it sometimes requires an existing user to validate you by scanning a QR code, so be patient when signing up.
• Threema. Swiss, a one-off payment and heavily focused on privacy. It isn’t fully blocked, but because of the filtering it runs erratically: text messages usually arrive, while voice and video calls and large files suffer serious delays. As a messaging app, fine; for video calls, I wouldn’t recommend it today.

Two that had their moment in Russia in spring 2026 and are no longer any use to you: Korea’s KakaoTalk and Turkey’s BiP. After the surge in users they started getting blocked, and today they barely connect without circumvention tools. If an old article recommends them, ignore it.

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Option 4. The Russian apps: MAX and VK

MAX is Russia’s national messenger, developed by VK, and it’s the app the state promotes as a replacement for WhatsApp and Telegram. Inside Russia it works beautifully (of course it does), it’s on the list of services that stay accessible even when mobile internet is cut off, and it now exceeds 68 million daily users. Within the country it’s by far what works best.

The problem is that for you, from outside Russia, it’s almost unusable, and this has changed dramatically in recent months:

• Apple pulled it from the App Store on 3 June 2026, citing sanctions compliance. On iPhone you can’t install it.
• On 16 July 2026 it also vanished from Google Play, across every regional version of the store, along with VK’s other apps.
• Three days earlier, on 13 July, the European Union had sanctioned VK and the company that runs MAX, noting that the app was developed under FSB supervision and includes extensive surveillance features.
• Registration only accepts Russian numbers and those from a list of around 40 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. British, American, Canadian, Australian and most European numbers won’t work.

In other words: even if you got hold of the installation file some other way, you couldn’t sign up with your number. If you’re curious about what this app actually is and why it’s so controversial, I cover it in full in this article about MAX. And if you’re travelling to Russia as a tourist, let’s be clear: you are not required to install it.

The other Russian option is VK, the social network. Its messaging and video calls work reliably inside the country and there’s a web version, which is the practical route if you’re abroad: you go in from the browser, without installing the app. It’s a reasonable alternative if your contact already uses VK daily, which is fairly common among Russians over 30.

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What no longer works in Russia (so you don’t waste your time)

App	Status
WhatsApp	Blocked since 12 February 2026. It works in patches thanks to the filter’s failures, but it isn’t reliable
Telegram	Officially throttled since 10 February 2026 and near-blocked since spring. Calls don’t work without a VPN
FaceTime	Blocked since 3 December 2025
Signal	Blocked since August 2024
Viber	Blocked since 13 December 2024
Discord	Blocked since 8 October 2024
Snapchat	Blocked since October 2025
Briar, Session, SimpleX, Verum	Blocked by court decision since September 2024
Skype	No longer exists: Microsoft shut it down in 2025

A note on decentralised apps like Element (Matrix): technically they cope better with blocks because they don’t rely on a single server, but they demand a level of comfort with technology that most people don’t have. I’d only suggest them if your contact is technically minded.

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If you’re the one travelling to Russia: three things that will affect you

1. A foreign SIM is no longer the magic loophole

For months the advice going round was that, with a foreign SIM or eSIM, Russian filtering didn’t touch you because your traffic went out onto the internet through your home operator. That was true, but since late June 2026 it has stopped being true in many cases: Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development confirmed that roaming traffic is subject to the same filtering regime that applies across the country. The criterion is no longer where your card is registered, but where you physically are.

It isn’t uniform and depends on how each operator has set up its roaming: some cards still open everything, others don’t. What is clear is that cards activated before entering Russia hold up better than those you try to activate once inside the country. So if you’re travelling, leave your eSIM installed and tested before you leave home.

On which card to take and how to install it, it’s all here: eSIM for Russia with unlimited data, a comparison of the best eSIMs and how to buy a Russian SIM card as a foreigner.

2. The 24-hour block on arrival

Since October 2025, when a foreign SIM connects to a Russian network for the first time it is left 24 hours without mobile internet or SMS. This is the so-called «cooling-off period», which the authorities justified by pointing to foreign cards being used to pilot drones. There is a way to shorten it, and I explain it step by step in this article. In the meantime, hotel wifi works fine.

3. Mobile internet shutdowns

In 2026 mobile internet shutdowns have become routine in Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities, on security grounds. During those shutdowns the only things that stay accessible are the services on a «white list» drawn up by the Ministry of Digital Development, which by mid-2026 covered more than 500 Russian sites and apps: Gosuslugi, banks, maps, taxis, marketplaces, the RZD railways and MAX itself.

And here comes the important part, because a lot of people don’t know it: during a shutdown a VPN won’t save you. The operator’s equipment blocks everything that isn’t on the list, foreign addresses included, so the tunnel can’t even be established. The only way out is fixed wifi (hotels, cafés, apartments), which normally keeps working.

That’s why my advice to travellers is always the same: download everything important for offline use before you go (offline maps, a translator with the Russian pack downloaded, bookings as PDFs, train tickets saved as images) and agree with your family that you’ll talk at set times, when you’re on stable wifi, rather than expecting to be reachable all day.

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And if nothing works: phoning Russia the old-fashioned way

We forget about it, but a traditional phone call goes through no internet filter at all and always works, including during mobile data shutdowns. No video, obviously, but for reaching someone or sorting out an emergency it’s foolproof.

Russia’s international dialling code is +7. You dial +7, then the area or mobile code (Russian mobiles almost all start with 9) and then the number. International calls to Russia aren’t included in the usual bundles, so check what your operator charges beforehand: the differences between providers are enormous, and an international add-on sometimes works out cheaper than the standard rate.

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My recommendation depending on your case

Your situation	What I recommend
You talk to family or friends in Russia and they’re comfortable with technology	Have them install a VPN and carry on with WhatsApp or Telegram as usual
Your contact is elderly or doesn’t want to install anything	Yandex Telemost or Zoom in the browser. Let them create the meeting and send you the link
You want a normal messaging app that just works	IMO, the most stable of the foreign apps right now
You’re travelling to Russia for a few days	VPN installed before you leave, eSIM activated before you leave, and everything important downloaded offline
You live or will be living in Russia	VK and MAX for daily life, plus a VPN and Telegram for everything else
It’s an urgent call and nothing works	A normal phone call to +7

Generally speaking, the sensible thing is not to depend on a single route. Agree two of them with your contacts and keep a backup plan. This changes every few weeks, and what’s the best option today may not be tomorrow.

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Frequently asked questions

Does WhatsApp work in Russia?

Officially no: it has been blocked since 12 February 2026. In practice it works on and off, especially text messages. If you’re traveling there, I explain it with readers’ experiences in the article Does WhatsApp Work in Russia?

And does Telegram work in Russia?

Barely. Roskomnadzor has officially been throttling it since 10 February 2026 and since spring the block has been near-total. Even so, around 65 million Russians still use it daily by combining a VPN, a proxy and an up-to-date version of the app. Voice and video calls do not work without a VPN.

Why does WhatsApp with Russia work some days and not others?

Because the Russian filtering system fails constantly. It saturates and lets traffic through without inspecting it, it doesn’t always update server addresses in time, its blacklists don’t sync simultaneously across the country, and traffic doesn’t always return by the same route. Working one day doesn’t mean the block has been lifted.

Is it legal to use a VPN in Russia?

Yes, using one personally is not a crime and there are no fines for users. What has been punishable since September 2025 is advertising or promoting tools for getting around blocks. Nothing is going to happen to a tourist with a VPN on their phone.

Do I have to install MAX if I travel to Russia?

No. It is the Russian state messenger and comes pre-installed on phones sold there, but no tourist is required to use it. It is also virtually impossible now: it disappeared from the App Store in June 2026 and from Google Play in July, and registration doesn’t accept British, American or most European numbers.

Can I make video calls from my hotel in Russia?

Yes, and hotel wifi is usually your best ally, especially during mobile internet shutdowns, which don’t affect fixed connections. Bear in mind that the filtering of blocked services also applies to wifi, so you’ll still need a VPN for WhatsApp or Telegram.

What about FaceTime in Russia?

It has been blocked since 3 December 2025. Roskomnadzor claimed it was being used for criminal purposes, and the measure came right after many iPhone users switched to FaceTime following the limits placed on WhatsApp and Telegram calls.

Which app works best in Russia right now without a VPN?

Among the foreign ones, IMO is the most stable: it handles messages and voice and video calls, accepts registration with Russian and foreign numbers, and downloads without any problem from abroad. Among the Russian ones, MAX and VK’s messaging work best, although installing them from outside Russia is complicated.

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In short

Video calling Russia is still perfectly possible, it’s just that opening WhatsApp and hitting the call button is no longer enough. The combination that works best today is simple: a VPN on the Russian end to keep using the usual apps, and a browser video call like Yandex Telemost or Zoom when the other person doesn’t want any hassle. With those two routes agreed in advance, you won’t be cut off.

I update this article every time something changes, which lately is often. If something different has happened to you, or you’ve found a route that works well, tell me on the Russiable forum: it helps me keep the article current and it’s useful to a lot of people.