Russians are increasingly turning to tools such as VPNs to bypass the internet blockade within the country in the wake of the Kremlin’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine and its crackdown on a number of social media platforms. VPNs, also known as virtual private networks, allow users to change the location from which they are accessing the internet, meaning they can evade location-based restrictions. It also creates an encrypted tunnel for users’ data, making browsing more private. Amid the Russian government’s crackdown on a number of social media services and news outlets, more and more Russians are turning to VPNs so that they can continue to stay connected with the outside world and get information from sources that don’t just consist of state-owned news outlets. According to Top10VPN.com, which live tracks spikes in the demand for VPN around the world, the desire for VPNs surged by 1,092 percent in Russia on March 5, exactly one day after Russia’s communications agency …