Content & Catalog
What to watch on Wink?
50,000+
Total titles
Content TypesMovies · Series · Live TV · Live Sport · Documentaries · Kids · News · Originals · Offline
SubtitlesRussian
DubbingRussian
Virtual MVPDWorks with VPNUpdated August 2, 2026
Reviewed by Vladimir Uhlik · Affiliate DisclosureOur website contains affiliate links. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you.
How to Watch Wink outside Russia: VPN Guide 2026
Restrim Media, the joint venture Rostelecom runs with National Media Group, spent three and a half billion rubles in January 2026 on LifeStream, owner of Smotreshka, which wholesales television to regional internet providers. That purchase says more about Wink than any catalogue figure: Russian distribution infrastructure first, streaming brand second. The entry package pairs 241 live channels with roughly 50,000 films and episodes, and the top tier reaches 299 channels and 80,000 titles. Wink does not open outside Russia, because every rights deal behind it stops at the border.
Since 15 April 2026 there has been a second gate. The Ministry of Digital Development asked the country’s largest platforms to restrict access when a VPN is switched on, and Wink now shows a warning instead of the player. Signing up needs a Russian mobile number, and billing settles in rubles on a Russian bank card. CyberGhost moves where you appear to be and nothing else; the subscription stays your own purchase, and no provider can promise playback starts.
50,000+
Total titles
1
Country
4K HDR
Max quality
1 of 7
VPNs work
4+ min
Ready in
Quick answer
Can you watch Wink outside Russia?
No. The rights behind Wink were written for Russian territory, so a US connection reaches the login screen and stops there. Registration is tied to a Russian mobile number and billing to a Russian bank card, neither of which a viewer abroad normally holds. Since mid April 2026 Wink also flags sessions that arrive with a VPN switched on. CyberGhost changes where you appear to be; it cannot open an account for you and nobody guarantees the stream starts.
VPN Compatibility
Best VPN for Wink
Wink actively blocks VPNs. Only certain providers reliably bypass the detection.
| VPN Service | Price | Wink | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 CyberGhostBEST | From $1.75/mo | ✓ Works | August 3 | Try it |
 ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ~ Partial | August 3 | Open |
 ExpressVPN | From $2.79/mo | ✗ Blocked | August 3 | Open |
 NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✗ Blocked | August 3 | Open |
 Surfshark | From $1.78/mo | ✗ Blocked | August 3 | Open |
 IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ✗ Blocked | August 3 | Open |
 Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ✗ Blocked | August 3 | Open |
✓ WorksTested August 3
~ PartialTested August 3
✗ BlockedTested August 3
✗ BlockedTested August 3
✗ BlockedTested August 3
✗ BlockedTested August 3
✗ BlockedTested August 3
Tested on August 3, 2026 · 7 VPNs, 1 working · residential IP from Russia · Wink updates detection continuously, results may change.
Streaming service blocking your VPN? Just disconnect and hop onto a different server in the same country. Stick to the ones labeled “streaming” or “optimized” because they’re literally built for this.
How-to
How to Unblock Wink with a VPN
Takes about 2 minutes. Works on your phone, tablet, TV, PC, or laptop.
- Pick a VPN you can verifyStart with CyberGhost, read the logging policy, then check the server list itself. On the long plan it works out at $1.75 a month, backed by a money-back guarantee.Free apps almost never list a Russian city, and the few that claim one are spotted first.
- Connect to a Russian serverChoose Moscow or St Petersburg if the provider still runs them, since plenty of operators left Russia after 2022. Be realistic about the odds: Wink has reacted to detected tunnels since April 2026, so the attempt may simply fail.Run a DNS and IPv6 leak test before you open the app.
- Sign in to your accountOpen the app or the Wink website and enter the Russian phone number your profile is tied to. A new subscription needs a card issued by a Russian bank, and a card from home is declined at checkout.
- Check the picture qualityThe Wink player reaches 4K with HDR once the tunnel carries enough bandwidth. Step the quality down by hand if the picture stutters.Download episodes in advance, though the licence on saved files is rechecked after a while.
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Availability
Which countries is Wink available in?
Wink is only available in Russia. To access it from anywhere else, use a premium VPN.
Available in 1 country No VPN needed
Blocked in 193 countries VPN required
United StatesUnited KingdomAustraliaCanadaNew ZealandIrelandGermanyFranceJapanIndiaNetherlandsSouth Africa
Show all 181 more countries
BrazilAfghanistanAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBhutanBoliviaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana
British Virgin Islands
BruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCabo VerdeCambodiaCameroonCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaColombiaComorosCongoCongo (DRC)Costa RicaCroatiaCubaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEswatiniEthiopiaFijiFinlandGabonGambiaGeorgiaGhanaGreeceGrenadaGuatemalaGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHondurasHungaryIcelandIndonesiaIranIraqIsraelItalyJamaicaJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKuwaitKyrgyzstanLaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMadagascarMalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMarshall IslandsMauritaniaMauritiusMexicoMicronesiaMoldovaMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorth KoreaNorth MacedoniaNorwayOmanPakistanPalauPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalQatarRomaniaRwandaSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint Vincent and GrenadinesSamoaSan MarinoSão Tomé and PríncipeSaudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSolomon IslandsSomaliaSouth KoreaSouth SudanSpainSri LankaSudanSurinameSwedenSwitzerlandSyriaTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTimor-LesteTogoTongaTrinidad and TobagoTunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTuvaluUAEUgandaUkraineUruguayUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuelaVietnamYemenZambiaZimbabweWink is blocked in the United States, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in Canada and in New Zealand, plus in 188 more countries. To access it, use a premium VPN like CyberGhost.
Available
Blocked / unavailable
Last tested: August 3, 2026
Steer clear of free VPNs. Most of them actually collect and sell your data, lack proper security audits, and can even expose you to malware. They’re also useless for streaming. Platforms block them instantly, leaving you with more headaches than solutions. Stick to paid VPNs with verified audits, like CyberGhost, if you want something that actually works.
About the platform
Who’s behind the service?
What is Wink
Wink is the hybrid service of Russian operator Rostelecom, folding live TV channels and an on-demand library into a single app. It launched in October 2018 and absorbed rival more.tv in June 2023, which pushed it into the top three at home. The base package carries more than two hundred channels and tens of thousands of films and series; the premium tier widens both. Alongside licensed content it produces its own titles, among them Kholod and Pervaya raketka. Playback reaches 4K with HDR and offline downloads. The service runs inside Russia only and blocks by network operator as well as by IP address.
Company and history
Previously known as
more.tv
Major changes
- Rostelecom switched Wink on for the first time on 1 October 2018, replacing its own IPTV product with a single app that carried live channels and a video library for Russian homes.
- Restrim Media was carved out in June 2023, seventy percent Rostelecom and the rest National Media Group. The more.tv library disappeared into the Wink brand as part of the same move.
- February figures moved Wink into second place in Russia by paying subscribers, behind Kinopoisk. The same month brought a Russian Book of Records certificate for a series premiere staged in thirty cinemas at once.
- The musical romance Landyshi opened on New Year’s Day and became the biggest original the service had made, passing a hundred million views across outlets before STS aired it in February.
- A crowd scene for the second season was shot at the Tavrida.ART festival, with more than thirty-three thousand people in frame, a record for the largest mass scene in a Russian series.
- The second season, Landyshi. Vtoraya vesna, opened on 1 January, exactly a year after the first, and STS broadcast the complete run on 23 February.
- Restrim Media paid three and a half billion rubles for LifeStream, the company behind Smotreshka, which supplies television to regional internet providers and holds roughly sixty percent of that wholesale segment.
- The Russian Ministry of Digital Development asked the country’s largest platforms to restrict access whenever a VPN is running. Wink joined in and now shows a warning rather than starting playback.
- The tennis drama Pervaya raketka arrived with Danila Kozlovsky and Polina Gukhman in the leads, its eight episodes rolling out weekly on Wink.
- The crime drama Kholod landed in mid July, led by Lyubov Aksyonova and Larisa Guzeyeva, and its creators pitch the show as a present-day rewrite of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Trust signals
Still can’t open Wink where you are?
Connect CyberGhost, pick a supported country, and you’re streaming Wink in minutes, backed by a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Devices & Quality
Watch on all your devices
Supported devices
Video quality
4KHDRDolby VisionDolby Atmos
UX features
Continue watchingParental controls
Accessibility
Closed captions
Insider Tips
Tips & tricks you should know
5 tips from our Wink testing team · Updated August 2, 2026
- The All in One annual plan currently runs 2,399 RUB, half of twelve monthly payments at 399 RUB, and it bundles Wink Music, games and karaoke.
- Spend the three free days on Wink Originals: they took nine of the ten most watched series of 2025, with the thriller Fisher on top.
- You can pause live TV, rewind it or start a programme over, and the archive reaches three days back, though some channels have it switched off.
- For 4K, leave quality on Auto in the Smart TV app or on a WinkBox, because the manual resolution list stops at 1080p, and one account covers five screens.
- Russia only, and Wink filters by ASN and openly refuses VPN traffic since April 2026, so pick CyberGhost with a Russian server and expect to need a Russian card.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know before you start watching Wink.
The ladder has three rungs and no free ad-supported option. The Wink entry plan bundles 241 live channels with an on-demand library of roughly 50,000 titles; the middle step adds the START and AMEDIATEKA catalogues plus ten more channels; the top tier carries 299 channels and 80,000 titles. Paying for a year costs about half what twelve monthly charges do. A three-day trial rolls into a paid cycle unless you switch renewal off in account settings, and cancelling there takes effect when the paid period ends.
Since 15 April 2026 it reacts to them. Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development asked the country’s biggest platforms to restrict access when a VPN is running, and a warning now appears instead of the Wink player. No published guidance describes a foolproof detection method and nobody sells a reliable way around it, so treat CyberGhost as an attempt. Encryption itself is legal in the US, but the terms of service ask you to switch it off.
No. Checkout settles in rubles through Russian payment rails, so a Visa or Mastercard issued by a US bank is declined before the order confirms. Billing through a Russian mobile operator works, and gift codes sold by Russian retailers work too. Either way a Russian phone number is still required, because a Wink profile is built on that number and nothing else.
Android and iOS phones, Samsung and LG smart TVs, Android TV boxes and any current desktop browser, with Chromecast handling the throw to the living room. Game consoles and Apple TV are missing from the Wink device list, which matters if one of those is your main player. Put CyberGhost on the router when a television is involved, because a smart TV opens its own connection and the location check then sees your real address.
Yes, but only inside the mobile app, and saved files stay locked to the Wink player. The licence on a downloaded episode is rechecked after a while, so at some point the app needs a connection the service accepts. The sensible pattern is to fill the phone while a Russian session is live, then watch on a plane or a train where no connection is needed at all.
Landyshi, the musical romance that opened on 1 January 2025, is still the biggest thing Wink has made, past a hundred million views across outlets. Its second season, Landyshi. Vtoraya vesna, arrived exactly a year later and reached the STS channel in February 2026. The tennis drama Pervaya raketka began on 30 April 2026, and the crime series Kholod followed on 16 July 2026.
Almost never. The interface, the audio and the subtitle tracks are Russian, foreign films arrive dubbed rather than in the original language, and help pages and support answer in Russian only. If you do not read Cyrillic, plan on a translation app beside you, or pick something like Hulu + Live TV, where English tracks are the default rather than the exception.
Nothing swaps in directly, because Russian rights sit with Russian operators. Hulu + Live TV has the same shape as Wink, live channels plus an on-demand library in one app, though the catalogues share nothing. For Russian-language drama, Kinopoisk and Okko are the usual names, and both carry the same territorial and payment limits. The more.tv library some viewers remember was folded into Wink back in 2023.
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Part of the Rostelecom (Restrim Media) family.
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