(Putin seems to be trying to reestablish totalitarianism.)

Russians are thronging this week to online tools that help them skirt internet restrictions as the Kremlin began blocking or limiting access to foreign platforms and social media sites, according to multiple media reports and analyses.

Demand for virtual private networks, or VPNs, has surged in Russia in the weeks after President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" into Ukraine, according to data from Top10VPN released Tuesday. Top10VPN reported that search traffic around the term "
VPN
" jumped by 1,092% over the previous 30 days.