Missing Russian TV? Here’s how to Watch VGTRK Live
Reading time: 4 min
First published: Jun 3, 2019
Updated 2 times since publishing
When people move away from their home country for an extended period of time, they usually wind up craving the comforts of home after a while. For some it’s food from a favorite restaurant, a friend’s voice or touch, or a favorite TV show or radio station.
For those moving away from Russia – some 20 to 30 million – in all, one of the most-missed television networks is the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, known as VGTRK for short.
It operates a large number of TV and radio channels across 53 different languages. This Moscow-based company was founded in 1990. Such popular channels as Russia-1, Carousel, and some 90 regional TV channels are owned and operated by VGTRK.
The farther you get from Russia, the fewer VGTRK channels you will find. In the United States, where some 3 million Russians live, the network is non-existent. Editor’s Note: We value our relationship with our readers, and we strive to earn your trust through transparency and integrity. We are in the same ownership group as some of the industry-leading products reviewed on this site: ExpressVPN, Cyberghost, Private Internet Access, and Intego. However, this does not affect our review process, as we adhere to a strict testing methodology.
VPN Basics
The view is that Russian streaming services are only for Russians, and it does not matter if the person attempting to view them is a Russian national; outside of the country’s borders they are seen as an outsider.
If you try to view a VGTRK channel from outside Russia, you’ll get an error message saying the content is not available in your area. This means the website has detected that your IP address is not Russian in nature and has blocked you. You have to possess a Russian IP address to successfully stream information.
Getting one means subscribing to a VPN service that has existing remote servers in Russia. Russia takes its Internet security seriously, so make sure you do your homework and pick a VPN that has the assets to do the job.
Since Russia is concerned with outsiders entering its cyberspace, the VPN you pick should also have the necessary security protocol to keep your connection from being detected.
Best VPNs for Accessing VGTRK
Not all VPNs are created equal, and quite a few of them struggle to bypass Russian Internet security protocol. Make sure you do your homework on which VPNs have what it take to handle Russian scrutiny as they establish connections inside the country.
Here are two examples of VPNs that can handle the load.
1VyprVPN
VyprVPN calls Israel home and has a great array of security measures in place to keep you safe online.
Among them is its 256-bit AES encryption, zero-knowledge DNS, a kill switch, custom Chameleon protocol, which lends better protection and accessibility, and apps for all 10 supported platforms.
Its only drawback for note is that it only supports three simultaneous connections, while some of its competitors allow six or seven.
2CyberGhost VPN
Sans China, CyberGhost VPN has success in working its VPN magic in every country in the world. A lot of that success is due the innovative way that this company eliminates third-party servers from the equation. Instead it has created its own self-managed, no-spy servers that reside in Romania.
This means no other company ever sees anything that you are doing online. CyberGhost doesn’t just stop there, however. It has a rotation of more than 3,700 servers located across some 60 countries to give a great selection of servers for any purpose you might have.
