Banned In Russia

On June 22, 2026, we got a message from Apple App Review. Not a bug report. Not a rejection over a screenshot. A notice that the government of Russia had ordered our app removed from its App Store.

Here’s what they wrote, word for word:

“We are writing to notify you that your application, per demand from Roskomnadzor, will be removed from the Russia App Store because it includes content that is illegal in Russia… According to Roskomnadzor, the app violates No. 7 of Article 15.1 of the Federal Law dated 27.07.2006 No. 149-FZ ‘On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection’.”

Translated from bureaucrat: our VPN works, and a surveillance state would rather its citizens didn’t have it.

What actually happened

Roskomnadzor is Russia’s federal censorship and surveillance agency. Article 15.1 № 7 is the specific provision they use to block “information about means of circumventing” the country’s internet restrictions — in plain English, the law they point at VPNs.

Apple isn’t the villain here. They’re the messenger, legally compelled to comply with a government takedown order or lose access to the entire market. So the notice lands in our inbox, an “Unresolved issues” flag turns red in App Store Connect, and Citadel disappears from one storefront.

Let’s be honest about why

We’re not going to pretend Russia singled us out as uniquely uncrackable. Since 2024, Roskomnadzor has been systematically purging VPN and anti-censorship apps from the Russian App Store — dozens of them, one after another. We’re one more name on a long list.

But here’s the thing about that list: everyone on it shares a single trait. Their tools actually protect people. Citadel encrypts your traffic, hides your network activity, and flags the threats sitting on the WiFi around you. That’s precisely the capability a regime built on watching its citizens wants gone.

When the people whose entire job is surveillance decide your product is a problem, that’s not a setback. That’s product-market fit.

What it means for everyone else

Nothing changed for you. Citadel is still live in every other App Store territory. The removal applies to one country — the one country that decided privacy was against the rules.

We build everything cybersecurity-first. That’s the GRYHAT difference, and it’s why an authoritarian censor flagged us while millions of other apps sail through untouched. We’ll wear that.

Russia gave us a one-star takedown. We’re reading it as five stars.