Russia seems to be getting a taste of its own medicine. Russia wanted to use cryptocurrencies to fight sanctions imposed on it by the Western world. Telegram has shown that cryptocurrencies can be used to fight governments as well. In this case, funding VPNs wont damage the Russian government, it will just irritate it.
I do agree with the need to resist the Russian government move to interfere with a communication tool like Telegram on the basis that they are suspecting terrorism-related activities being conducted using Telegram. I do believe that there is no need for the government to control Telegram instead they should be working with Telegram on this matter...the problem is that there is a strong tendency for the Russian government to shortcut things and imposed its will without proper consultation and collaboration. Maybe authorities there are just following the leadership style of its main leader. I am wondering if this resistance movement from Telegram can be helping the cause of Bitcoin or not...