UA: Server withdrawal announcement

[Staff 9971]

Hello!

We're sorry to inform you that Altais (Kiev, Ukraine) has been canceled by the service provider due to our refusal to provide 100% warranty that non-permitted activities will ever take place on the server, which is of course an impossible commitment not only for VPN but for any ISP providing private citizens with any online service in general.

We're also sorry to inform you that we have no plans at the moment to rent new servers in Kiev or anywhere else in Ukraine because of various factors, among which the behavior of local police (remember in the past the request for bribes masked as fines to unlock servers) and the unreliability of local datacenter managers, which seem to be used to cancel services without notification and without refunds.

Over the past decade, the behavior of Ukrainian datacenters and local authorities has brought nothing but inconvenience to our customers, so it is time to (at least temporarily) suspend operations there.

Kind regards
AirVPN Staff
 

[Stalinium 44]

Unfortunately this was one of the very few servers that would pass as a "CIS IP" now that more and more websites intended for the CIS regions deliberately avoid serving their content to other parts of the world. To clarify, this is not a new trend since the pressure increased in 2010s but it's gaining traction.
I understand that neither primary suspects like Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are suitable locations in terms of legislation. Maybe countries like Moldova and Georgia can be reconsidered?

As far as other VPN providers are concerned, anyone should really regard the questionable locations with a whopping mountain of salt. What the NSA did covertly, Russia's lawmakers decided to put as a burden upon both ISPs and data center providers. Openly. With clear and strict data retention policies.

[Vassoz 0]

This news are very frustrating. I choose AirVPN among the competitors because there was an Ukrainian server. And I bought 3 years right away. Please get a new Ukrainian server if/when possible. 

[nexsteppe 24]

As it is, it is almost impossible for internet companies to keep a stable, long-term presence free of harassment in nations in or adjacent to CIS region, even ones not at war.  In any case, I'd rather a provider withdraw from a country entirely than submit to its corruption to remain.  AirVPN made a sound decision imho.