YouTube access fines. Moscow and St Petersburg courts penalise internet providers for letting Russians reach YouTube by bypassing state blocks

The cases are brought under part 1 of article 13.42.1 of Russia’s Administrative offences code, which penalises operators for failing to route traffic through “technical means of countering threats to the stability, security and integrity of the internet within the Russian Federation”—in other words, through TSPU equipment that is mandatory to install for all internet providers across the country.

In every case where the outcome is known, the providers were found guilty. Courts have typically imposed fines of 250,000 roubles (roughly $3,100); in one case the penalty was doubled.

The enforcement process follows the same pattern throughout. The monitoring centre of GRCHC, a state enterprise that oversees Russia’s radio frequency spectrum, or a regional branch of Roskomnadzor, the censorship agency, checks whether a provider’s traffic is passing through TSPU filters. If a blocked website proves accessible and no corresponding request is logged by the TSPU, inspectors draw up a formal report.

In most cases, the checks targeted YouTube; in two, inspectors tested access to EUobserver, a Brussels-based news outlet that is blocked in Russia.

Seven of the nine cases were heard at a single judicial district, No 21 in Moscow’s Nagatino-Sadovniki neighbourhood, the location of Roskomnadzor’s directorate for the Central Federal District. Six of the seven were decided by the same judge, Yaroslav Dolgopolov.

On February 2, 2026, Dolgopolov issued five rulings, against Trivon Networks, YuL-Kom Media, iHome, AVK-Wellcom and Grand. All five cases concerned access to YouTube detected by Roskomnadzor in December 2025, and all ended with the same fine of 250,000 roubles, reduced below the statutory minimum “in view of the legal entity’s financial circumstances.” The texts of the rulings are virtually word for word.

Under the same article, on February 25 a Moscow magistrate’s court fined MSK-IX, the operator of Russia’s largest internet exchange point, through which a significant share of the country’s web traffic passes. Which blocked website was found to be accessible via MSK-IX has not been disclosed.

Trivon Networks did not send a representative to court. YuL-Kom Media and Grand pleaded guilty. iHome and AVK-Wellcom did not dispute that traffic had bypassed the TSPU but refused to admit guilt; AVK-Wellcom pointed the finger at the subcontractor that had installed the equipment. Tinko, the St Petersburg provider, likewise did not appear.

The only company to mount an active defence was Avantel, whose case was heard in December 2024. Its lawyers argued that traffic reaching EUobserver had come from an upstream operator, TransTeleCom, and that the TSPU had failed to intercept it because of a Cloudflare extension that “makes it possible to create gaps in the TSPU system.” Maria Putintseva, the magistrate at district No 98 in Moscow’s Butyrsky neighbourhood, rejected every argument and fined Avantel 500,000 roubles—the only case in which the court declined to reduce the penalty below the statutory minimum.

iHome is the only provider to have been fined twice. In March 2025, the company was penalised for providing access to EUobserver; it admitted guilt and expressed remorse. In February 2026, it was fined the same amount again, this time over access to YouTube. On this occasion its representatives refused to admit guilt. They did not deny that traffic had passed through a network node in Rostov-on-Don but said the problem had since been fixed.