Claude Code in Russia — no VPN, no Anthropic account
Since October 1, 2026, Anthropic has again been blocking Claude accounts from Russia at scale, paid ones included. Connect Claude Code to RuAPI instead: the same Claude Opus, Sonnet and Haiku models, with no VPN, no subscription and no foreign-issued card. Pay in USDT, only for the tokens you use.
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://www.ruapi.ai
export ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=sk-...
export ANTHROPIC_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5-5
claudeReplace sk-... with your RuAPI key — no Anthropic account or subscription needed.
Why connect Claude Code through RuAPI from Russia
Claude accounts from Russia are getting blocked.
Russia isn't on the list of countries Anthropic officially serves. Since October 1, 2026, users in Russia have again been reporting blocked accounts, including paid Claude Max ones (according to The Moscow Times and The Bell). You lose your chats and projects along with the account.
A RuAPI key instead of an Anthropic account.
Claude Code can work through a third-party gateway: set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://www.ruapi.ai and put your RuAPI key in ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN. You don't sign in to Anthropic at all, so account bans don't affect you. Step-by-step guide: docs.ruapi.ai/en/integrations/claude-code
Pay for tokens, not a subscription.
Claude Pro costs $20 a month and Max starts at $100, and you can't pay for either with a Russian card. On RuAPI you top up in USDT, from 5 USDT, and pay only for the tokens you use. Prompt caching works, so the context Claude Code re-sends at every step costs at least 10× less.
Set up in 5 minutes
Step 1 — A RuAPI key
sign up at www.ruapi.ai
top up in USDT, from 5 USDT
Step 2 — Two environment variables
ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://www.ruapi.ai
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN=your RuAPI key
Step 3 — Run claude
default model: claude-sonnet-5-5
switch models: /model claude-opus-5-5
Claude Code through RuAPI vs. an Anthropic account
| Claude Code + RuAPI | Claude Code with an Anthropic account from Russia | |
|---|---|---|
| Access from Russia | Direct, no VPN | VPN only: Russia isn't a supported country |
| Ban risk | No Anthropic account needed | A new wave of bans since October 2026, paid accounts included |
| Payment | USDT; foreign-issued cards accepted too | Subscription; Russian cards not accepted |
| How you pay | Only for the tokens you use | Pro $20/month, Max from $100/month, with usage limits |
| Models | Claude Opus, Sonnet, Haiku, plus DeepSeek and GPT | Claude only |
Anthropic prices are from claude.com/pricing (checked Oct 15, 2026); information about bans is based on reports by The Moscow Times and The Bell, October 2026.