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Belarus mainly blocks websites, not platforms: independent media, LiveJournal, Pornhub, some crypto exchanges. According to Information Minister Marat Markov (Sputnik Belarus, 21.02.2025), access is restricted to 15,150 internet resources. At the same time, YouTube, Telegram, Instagram and WhatsApp work without a VPN. The main risk lies elsewhere: subscribing to or reposting "extremist material" can end in a fine or arrest.
Blocking is done by the Ministry of Information, sometimes at the request of the KGB or other agencies. In the first five months of 2025 the Ministry of Information restricted access to 3.6 thousand resources, and in all of 2024 to 3.2 thousand (BelTA, 05.07.2025).
| Service or site | Status in Belarus | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Independent media (TUT.BY, Zerkalo.io and others) | Blocked | Ministry of Information decisions, "extremism" |
| LiveJournal | Blocked since November 13, 2024 | Ministry of Information decision |
| Pornhub | Blocked since June 2023 | Ministry of Information decision of 16.06.2023 |
| Bybit, BingX, Bitget, OKX | Blocked since December 2025 | "Improper advertising" |
| YouTube, Telegram, Instagram, WhatsApp | Work | — |
| VKontakte | Works (the block on 24.10.2025 lasted a few hours) | KGB request, then reversed |
| ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini | Unavailable | The companies' own decision |
| Visa cards of three Belarusian banks in the EU | Not working since 18.03.2026 | Sanctions |
Socio-political media, sites with "improper advertising" and resources with prohibited content are blocked most often. Blocking is ongoing: during the presidential election in January 2025 alone, according to Markov, about 2,200 resources were restricted.
The most notable cases:
Since September 5, 2025 a new procedure has been in force: a provider must close access within 4 hours after a resource is added to the list, and the first blocking term is 6 months (Novy Grodno, 05.09.2025).
Yes. Meduza, in an article of April 6, 2026, states directly that Telegram, YouTube and Instagram work in Belarus without a VPN. The Belarusian censorship model works differently from the Russian one: platforms are left open, and users are punished for specific content.
Russian blocks don't apply in Belarus. Instagram, closed by Roskomnadzor, opens from Belarusian networks. Roblox, which was blocked in Russia from December 2025 to June 2026, also worked in Belarus: Onliner specifically clarified on December 3, 2025 that its resources are available in Belarus. In January 2026 the Ministry of Information called the game dangerous for children but did not block it.
Short outages do happen, though. On the night of January 10, 2025, before the election, YouTube, Telegram, TikTok, Twitch and Discord disappeared for about an hour and a half on several operators (MotolkoHelp, 10.01.2025). In August 2020 the internet in the country was effectively down for about three days (Meduza, 06.04.2026).
Some services are unavailable not because of blocks but because the companies themselves don't serve Belarus. Belarus is not on the lists of supported countries of Anthropic (Claude) and Google (Gemini API), and ChatGPT is unavailable too. The check is triggered by IP address, phone number or the card used for payment. We covered how this works in the article VPN for AI services.
Payments are more complicated. Since March 18, 2026, Visa cards of Alfa-Bank, Belgazprombank and Belagroprombank don't work in the EU, the UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway: not at ATMs, not in stores, not online (Meduza, 20.03.2026). Inside Belarus and outside the EU these cards work.
This is the main legal risk in Belarus, and a VPN does not protect you from it. The republican list of extremist materials, according to the Viasna human rights center, had grown to 8,172 items by December 5, 2025, of which 2,107 were added in 2025. According to novaya.by (20.08.2026), there are already more than 9,000 items.
The list doesn't contain only opposition channels. On March 25, 2026 the Leninsky District Court of Mogilev declared the "BBC News Russian Service" website with the address www.bbc.com "extremist", that is, formally the entire BBC domain. A day earlier the same court added the Novaya Gazeta Europe website to the list.
The penalty under Article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses: a fine of 10 to 30 base units (450–1,350 rubles in 2026), community service or administrative arrest. The authorities treat reposts, likes, comments and subscriptions as distribution. Human rights defenders from BAJ point out that formally a subscription alone is punished only if passing the materials on to others is proven. In practice, phones are checked at the border and during detentions.
If you're traveling to Belarus, don't download or forward materials from this list, and check your subscriptions before the trip. Since spring 2026, according to Nasha Niva (11.07.2026), the first "extremist" subscription found at the border has been met with a warning instead of days of arrest. This is practice, not a change in the law.
Formally, bypassing blocks in Belarus has been prohibited since 2015. Resolution No. 6/8 of the OAC and the Ministry of Communications of February 19, 2015 obliges providers to block not only prohibited sites but also circumvention tools: anonymizers, proxies, Tor. We found no separate article of the Code of Administrative Offenses in open sources that would punish an ordinary person for the mere fact of installing a VPN.
But a VPN does not remove liability for what you open through it. Accessing resources from the restricted access list may be treated as a violation of the rules for using telecommunications networks, and viewing and storing "extremist materials" is punishable regardless of how you accessed them. Providers use DPI, so regular protocols are periodically cut. We explained how such filtering works in the article what DPI is.
The main problem for Russians in Belarus is the reverse: in roaming, mobile internet usually goes through the home carrier's network, so Russian restrictions may persist in Minsk too. With a Belarusian SIM card or on Wi-Fi, Instagram and YouTube will open without a VPN.
Three more points:
The legal status of VPNs back home, if you're from Russia, is covered separately: is a VPN legal in Russia.
BessyConnect runs on VLESS with Reality camouflage: to filters the traffic looks like ordinary HTTPS, so the connection holds where DPI cuts regular protocols. There are more than 100 servers, no logs, registration isn't required, and there's no device limit. There's a trial period.
The app isn't in the Russian App Store: to install it on iPhone you need an Apple ID from another country.
Honestly about the limits. A VPN does not make legal what is prohibited in Belarus, and does not protect you from a phone check at the border. It won't help during a complete internet shutdown, as in August 2020, and won't restore card payments if the bank is under sanctions.
What is blocked in Belarus in 2026? Independent media, LiveJournal, Pornhub, major crypto exchanges and thousands of other sites. According to the Ministry of Information as of February 2025, access is restricted to 15,150 resources.
Does Telegram work in Belarus without a VPN? Yes, Telegram, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp work without a VPN. The danger is not the apps themselves but subscriptions to channels from the list of extremist materials.
Is a VPN banned in Belarus or not? Since 2015 providers have been obliged to block circumvention tools. Open sources show no separate fine for the mere fact of using a VPN, but you are liable for accessing prohibited materials through a VPN just as you are without one.
Do Russian blocks apply in Belarus? No, Belarus has its own register. Instagram, closed in Russia, opens on Belarusian networks. With a Russian SIM card in roaming, the restrictions may persist.
Why doesn't ChatGPT work in Belarus? OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have not included Belarus in their lists of supported countries. This is the companies' decision, not a Belarusian block.
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