How to Access Linkedin from Russia? [TUTORIAL]

In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to access Linkedin from Russia. Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications authority, has blocked Linkedin since November 2016. Despite this censorship, it is possible to access Linkedin in Russia and I am going to show you how.

LinkedIn is a popular networking website for professionals worldwide, and before it was blocked, more than 6 million Russians were registered on it. But in 2014, a Russian law stipulates that foreign sites will have to store Russian users' data on Russian servers. And since 2016, Linkedin has been blocked for violating this law.

At the end of this article, however, you will know how to access and use Linkedin normally in Russia. But before that, let's talk about how this Linkedin restriction system works, it will help us to understand the rest.

How does Russia block Linkedin on all its territory?

Websites around the world that are often geo-restricted are blocked in the same way. And Linkedin in Russia is not an exception.

Look at this picture:

All the devices you have that are connected to the Internet have an IP address. One of the parameters of an IP address is that it can geolocate you. So we can know your country (and city) but also your internet provider. With these pieces of information, Russia can block Linkedin on its territory. 

According to Deutsch Welle, "Russia's communications regulator has ordered the country's internet providers to block access to LinkedIn's website...". In comparison, it is not only in Russia where some sites are blocked by Internet providers. In France, the scientific literature websites Sci-Hub and Libgen are blocked by all the french Internet providers. 

Now that you know how LinkedIn blocking works in Russia, you may have an idea of how to bypass it. All you need to do is to get an IP address abroad, with a VPN. I show you all the steps below.

Linkedin blocked in Russia: the solution

Before starting, you should know that using a VPN is legal in Russia. You can freely change your IP address on any device with a VPN. However, some VPNs are blocked on Russian territory.

Here are the ones I recommend that will allow you to access Linkedin in Russia:

• CyberghostVPN
• ExpressVPN
• NordVPN

These VPNs are zero-log (I emphasize this because it's rare) and they will not record any of your internet history data. I will now show you how to connect to Linkedin in Russia using ExpressVPN. You can use it on a computer and smartphone + tablet. 

No logs VPN

ExpressVPN | Fast, reliable, risk-free VPN for Russia 🇷🇺

➡️ Get ExpressVPN

Here are the steps to access Linkedin with a VPN in Russia:

Step 1) Get ExpressVPN here (discount), this is one of the best VPNs you can get in Russia.

Step 2) Launch it on your device. Here is what it looks like:

Step 3) Now to change your IP address to a country where you can access Linkedin, you have to choose a location. Click on the three little dots to show the list of countries.

I recommend you to choose a country near Russia (the speed will be better for you). I chose Estonia.

Step 4) To connect to your selected location, double-click on it. ExpressVPN will take a few seconds to connect and once it's done it will turn green. Now I have an Estonian Ip address.

Step 5) You can go now to Linkedin.com and it will work fine as you can see:

You can connect to use Linkedin and even register for a new account by clicking on "Join now". 

A Linkedin profile looks like this:

If you want to change the language to Russian, you can scroll down to select Русский.

Step 6) Leave the VPN activated when you go on Linkedin. When you are not on Linkedin anymore you can disable it and get back your Russian IP address by clicking on the big ExpressVPN disconnect button.

Conclusion

Summary: if you want to access LinkedIn from Russia, you will need a VPN.  A VPN will protect you from mass surveillance and it enables you to access the web from a different country.

According to many sites, the best VPN for Russia is ExpressVPN and it is the one I like to use when I am in Russia. It is not blocked on Russian territory and it does not keep any of our internet activity data.

I hope this article has been useful to you. I wish you success in your search for a job on Linkedin. There are a lot of opportunities there because it's the number one online professional network.

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