How to Watch Netflix Russia in 2020: Access Russian Movies & Shows

Have you ever wondered what there is to watch on Netflix Russia? Netflix geoblocks its content, which means that you can usually only watch popular shows such as Silver Spoon and Locust if you’re actually located there.

The easiest and fastest way to access Netflix in Russia is to use a VPN. However, Russia has been cracking down on VPN servers, which limits your options. Many of the best VPNs, such as ExpressVPN and NordVPN, have no servers in Russia at all because they decided their servers were no longer safe from Russian government surveillance (more on that later).

However, we still recommend using CyberGhost, with optimized servers for streaming services and almost 100 virtual servers for Russia. We’ll walk you through the setup and have you watching Netflix in Russia in no time.

Quick Guide: How to Watch Netflix Russia

1. Download a VPN. We recommend CyberGhost for its 96 virtual Russian servers and reliable access to Netflix.
2. Open your VPN’s list of server locations and choose one of the servers with an IP address located in Russia.
3. Open your browser and navigate to Netflix.
4. You should be online and able to watch Netflix Russia. If you receive an error from Netflix, try another server in the same region.

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How to Watch Netflix Russia

For most countries, the only problem you have to worry about when using a VPN to watch Netflix is its proxy ban. Netflix doesn’t want you watching movies and TV shows from other countries, and it tries to block any IP address that may be from a VPN.

Watching Netflix in Russia adds its own set of complications, as well. The country has its own “blacklist,” a list of websites that residents aren’t allowed to visit. Since VPN services help residents get around these restrictions, the government has tried to eliminate these tools wherever possible.

Roskomnadzor’s 30-Day Notice

Russia’s strong control over their internet has always been an issue when it comes to user privacy. In 2019, Roskomnadzor — Russia’s media regulation organization — released a statement demanding that 10 popular VPNs connect their programs to a government IT service.

Our overview of the Russian VPN ban goes into more detail, but almost every VPN involved refused to work with the Russian government in implementing the censorship. The one exception is Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection, which did agree to allow the Russian government a backdoor into their VPN.

Roskomnadzor’s 30-day notice affected both of the best VPNs for Netflix, ExpressVPN and NordVPN. Fortunately, both VPN services protected the privacy of their users by refusing to work with the government. Unfortunately, this means both had to close all their Russian servers.

Every VPN we recommend here has servers — either virtual or physical — in Russia and has no issues evading the Netflix proxy ban. We also evaluated their speed, privacy and cost to determine which one is our first choice for connecting to the internet and watching Netflix in Russia.

1. CyberGhost

CyberGhost is one of our favorite VPNs, especially when it comes to accessing a streaming service in another region. It has 96 virtual Russian servers, so you won’t have any issues accessing Russian movies and shows.

It also has servers optimized specifically for streaming services, but the speeds can be unreliable and none of the Russian servers are P2P servers. With so many different servers to choose from, though, you can easily find another VPN server in the same location with a faster connection.

Take a look at our CyberGhost review for a full rundown of its strengths and weaknesses. It’s one of our favorites, though, and tops this list for a reason. You can give it a try with its short free trial, and it also has an impressive 45-day money-back guarantee if you buy a longer subscription.

2. Windscribe

Windscribe is one of the most affordable services to stream movies and TV shows, especially with its dedicated Netflix servers, Windflix. Its monthly plan is the cheapest on this list, so you can get access to content from Russia affordably. If you just need access to one country, you can use their even cheaper build-a-plan subscription.

We had a bit of trouble getting past Netflix’s IP address proxy ban, though. You may need to try a few different servers before you find one that you can use for streaming. It’s not the fastest VPN, either, but it will get you online with Netflix.

Although Windscribe is one of our favorite free VPN services (and you can see why in our Windscribe review), you can’t access the internet in this region with the free plan at all. Its Russian servers are only available in the paid subscription plans.

3. VyprVPN

Rounding out our top three services for watching Netflix Russia is VyprVPN. If you pay upfront for a longer subscription, it’s the cheapest option out there. It also boasts its own Chameleon protocol designed to get around the Netflix proxy ban, but we had no troubles even when we didn’t use it.

The speed on OpenVPN was a little slow, though. Make sure to switch over to IKEv2 for a better experience accessing content from another country. The servers were often slow to begin with, but evened out after watching Netflix for a few minutes, so stick it out.

You can also connect multiple devices with VyprVPN, allowing you to share your Netflix access to Russia with friends or family. Check out our VyprVPN review for more details on its speed and features.

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Best Free VPN to Access Netflix Russia

It’s difficult to find a free VPN that we like, and it’s even more difficult to find a free VPN that will get you into a Russian VPN server. A few of our favorite VPNs on our best free VPN list fit the bill, although you’ll have to make a few sacrifices.

Many free VPN services trade off privacy considerations in exchange for the ability to access content in another country for free. Among the free options we trust, only a few of them offer Russian servers if you upgrade to a paid service (like Windscribe).

Speedify is really the only free VPN with servers in this region. You can stay online until you reach its data cap — 5GB — and watch as much Russian content as you’d like. However, if you’re streaming high-definition Netflix videos, you won’t get more than an hour or two from that limit.

Speedify is also lacking when it comes to privacy. Although it doesn’t log what you use the VPN for, it does keep track of your IP address and your actual location while using it. Check out our Speedify review for more details, but we recommend avoiding free plans to stream content from Russia.

Free Trials and Money-Back Guarantees

All three of the top VPNs for Netflix Russia have some kind of money-back guarantee. Both CyberGhost and VyprVPN will refund your money within 30 days of purchase, no questions asked.

Windscribe is stricter with its refunds. If you’ve had the program for more than three days or used more than 10GB of data, you can no longer use its money-back guarantee. This is offset with its robust free plan, but that free plan does not include a Russian server.

CyberGhost is the only one that offers a free trial, though. It’s very limited — one day on desktop, three days on mobile — but it gives you the opportunity to get online using the program and see if it’s worth purchasing to watch Netflix movies in another region.

Final Thoughts

Watching Netflix movies from another country is really as simple as downloading the right VPN. With Russia in the mix, finding the VPN you need is a bit more complicated due to its censorship. That’s why we recommend using CyberGhost, with its dedicated Netflix servers and huge number of virtual servers in Russia.

Once you’ve chosen your VPN, getting online is as simple as choosing a server, connecting to the internet and opening Netflix. All the movies and TV shows on Netflix Russia will be available to you with a VPN subscription.

Have you tried any of these VPN providers to watch Netflix in Russia? How did it work for you? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading.