A youth festival in Russia reportedly gives foreign visitors unfiltered Wi-Fi — while keeping Russian participants behind state censorship

Organizers of the International Youth Festival underway at Yekaterinburg Expo have given foreign participants access to websites blocked in Russia, according to the local outlet Signal Ural.The outlet found that visitors to the exhibition center can access three Wi-Fi networks:IWYF2026_GLOBAL — a network for foreign delegates with traffic filtering disabled;IWYF2026_UNITED — a network for Russian participants subject to blocks imposed by Russia’s federal communications regulator, Roskomnadzor;IWYF2026_VIP — a private network for speakers and organizers.To log in, users must enter the unique number on their accreditation badge. The system automatically prevents Russian citizens from connecting to the network reserved for foreign visitors, while international visitors can access social media platforms and websites blocked in Russia.Foreign visitors also received special SIM cards giving them access to the services they’re used to, festival hotline staff told Agentstvo. Another hotline employee suggested that the visitors were given unrestricted Internet access so they could post about their attendance, share materials and content, and keep their social media accounts updated.Organizers used a similar arrangement during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2026. A source told Bereg, a journalists’ cooperative, that the forum’s organizers had obtained special SIM cards and purchased VPN subscriptions for foreign visitors so they could access WhatsApp, Instagram, and other services blocked in Russia.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.