Claude is not directly supported in Russia. The country is absent from the list that Anthropic's supported regions policy is built on, and the policy itself takes effect on November 12, 2026. You can use Claude models from Russia through an API gateway, but a gateway does not open the claude.ai site and does not replace a subscription. What follows, in order: what the page says, what works by product and what stays unknown.
What the supported regions policy says
The page is titled Supported Regions Policy. We opened it on November 2, 2026 and retell it close to the text.
- The apps (Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork), the API, the developer platform, and Claude models on cloud platforms and with authorized resellers are available only in the listed countries and regions.
- Any country or region outside the list counts as unsupported. Territories and dependencies of a listed country are supported together with it.
- The policy takes effect on November 12, 2026.
- Russia is not on the list. Ukraine is listed with exceptions: Crimea and the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
What works, by product
The question "does Claude work" covers several different things. The website, the app, the terminal agent and the API are set up differently, so the answers differ too.
| Product | Directly from Russia | Through the codexkey gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Chat on claude.ai | The country is not on the supported list | No, a gateway gives no access to the site |
| Claude Desktop | The app asks you to sign in to an Anthropic account, and the same policy applies | Gateway mode works without an account sign-in, instructions in the article on Claude Desktop |
| Claude Code | Needs a subscription sign-in or an Anthropic API key | Connects with the ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL variable and a gateway key, guide |
| Claude API | A key from the Anthropic console, country not on the list | A sk_cdx_... key, calls to api.codexkey.online |
| Pro and Max subscriptions | Not supported | We do not sell them |
Anthropic's documentation has a clarification for Claude Code. If only ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL is set and there is no gateway key, the saved claude.ai sign-in stays the main way to authorize. A second variable with the key is needed too, for example ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN. The same documentation states plainly that Anthropic does not endorse, maintain or audit third-party gateways. We are quoting that ourselves.
Whom the policy covers
The page singles out three groups, and they overlap.
- People who are physically located in an unsupported region. This group explicitly includes employees of companies from supported countries.
- Organizations incorporated or headquartered in such a region, and their employees, even when those employees work from a supported country.
- Organizations that are majority-owned, directly or indirectly, or controlled by people and organizations from unsupported regions.
The first group gives a practical rule: the criterion in the text is physical, meaning where the person is located. Whether the policy applies to you depends on where your company is, where it is registered and who owns it. If the question is critical for your business, discuss it with a lawyer or write to Anthropic.
What the page does not say
Short "we don't know" lines are more useful than long guesses.
- How the November 12 edition differs from the previous one, and what exactly changes from that date, the page does not explain.
- The text says nothing about existing accounts, keys or transition periods.
- Independent API gateways are not named separately.
- The word VPN is not in the text either; it talks about physical location.
A simple conclusion follows. We do not know what will happen on November 12, and we do not try to predict it. codexkey is a separate service, not part of Anthropic, and we cannot promise that access will survive any change in the vendor's rules.
What to do while nothing is clear
You do not need to change your life in ten days, but you can prepare a fallback in one evening. Three steps at no extra cost:
- Find the places in your project where the Anthropic address and key are hardcoded. It is better if they live in environment variables.
- Export what you would hate to lose: chat history and configuration. How to do it is described in the article How to export your Claude chat history.
- Create a second key and test it with one request for a single token.
A step-by-step list with commands is collected in Before November 12: a checklist for Claude API and Claude Code. If something has already stopped opening, start with the diagnostics. Account bans are covered in Claude account banned, suspended or deleted, paying for access in How to pay for Claude from Russia, and moving a project to a gateway in Migrating from the Anthropic API to a gateway. Looking for a Claude Code replacement? See the Gemini CLI breakdown.
FAQ
Does Claude work in Russia right now?
Not directly: the country is not on Anthropic's list of supported regions. Claude models are available through an API gateway, but it does not replace the claude.ai site or the Pro and Max subscriptions.
Will Claude be blocked in Russia on November 12?
We do not know. The policy page gives an effective date, November 12, 2026, but the text does not say how enforcement will change.
Will Claude Code work after November 12?
It depends on how you use it. The policy is silent about gateways, we give no legal opinions and we predict nothing. It is worth testing a fallback channel in advance.
Does the policy apply to Russian companies?
The page calls unsupported the use by organizations incorporated or headquartered in an unsupported region, and by their employees. How that applies to your company is a question for a lawyer.
Do I need a VPN for Claude to work in Russia?
Not for the API through a gateway. For the website a VPN changes nothing, because the policy speaks of physical location. More in the article VPN for Claude.