In short
- Russian services go direct — there is no need to turn MaskNet off for them.
- The rest of your traffic goes through the protected MaskNet network.
- The decision is made automatically, at the network level.
- On protected connections the external service sees a MaskNet IP; on a direct connection a local service may see your ordinary public IP.
- You keep working with a single connection throughout.
Why one mode does not suit every site
The classic VPN model is simple: once you connect, all supported traffic goes through the VPN server you picked.
For plenty of purposes that is enough. But everyday internet use is made of very different services.
In a single hour someone might open a Russian bank, then government services, a marketplace, a work app, an international site and a video service. These systems have different requirements, different infrastructure and different security rules.
Some Russian services pay closer attention to connections coming from foreign IP addresses. One may ask you to sign in again, another may add an extra check, a third may simply switch to a different regional version of the page.
If handling each of those cases means turning the VPN off by hand, keeping protection on all the time stops being practical.
Banks, government services and local sites go direct
For Russian services MaskNet keeps the connection direct.
A request to a bank, government portal, marketplace or any other Russian site travels over your ordinary internet connection, with no foreign MaskNet location in the path.
Local services behave the way you expect, and there is nothing to toggle before every such action.
A direct connection also means that particular service may see the public IP of your ordinary internet connection. That differs from connections that run through the protected MaskNet network and pick up a MaskNet external IP.
This split is part of smart routing, not a separate mode you have to switch on per site.
Other services use the protected MaskNet network
When a connection goes through MaskNet infrastructure, traffic between your device and the protected network travels encrypted.
The service at the far end receives the connection from MaskNet and sees the public IP of the relevant location instead of your original public IP.
That principle is standard for VPN technology, but in MaskNet it sits inside a wider network logic.
The system can handle connections in different ways depending on where they are going, instead of forcing all internet traffic down the same path.
The difference is most noticeable in daily use, when local and international services are opened one after another all day long.
Smart routing works on its own
You should not have to compile lists of domains, study IP ranges or flip network rules before opening an app.
MaskNet takes that work on.
Smart routing decides how to handle a connection within the service's network logic. That decision can account for the type of destination and the infrastructure available.
For you the experience stays ordinary: MaskNet is connected, and sites and apps open as usual.
It is one reason MaskNet cannot be reduced to picking a VPN country. Locations remain an important part of the service, but there is an additional layer of logic on top, built around how people actually use the internet.
What this looks like on an ordinary day
Say you check a banking app in the morning, then open international work services and video, drop into a marketplace after lunch and use a handful of apps on your phone in the evening.
Without automatic separation of connections, you would have to keep track of when the VPN should stay on and when it is better switched off for a moment.
With MaskNet, local services that use a direct connection keep running over your ordinary network. The rest can travel through MaskNet's protected infrastructure.
The approach helps most on a phone, where people switch between apps constantly and rarely want to think about network settings.
The same logic applies on a computer and other supported devices.
Protection and direct connections do different jobs
It is worth being clear about the difference between the two cases.
When a connection goes through the protected MaskNet network, MaskNet's VPN-level protection applies and the external service sees a MaskNet IP.
On a direct connection, that MaskNet layer is not used for the connection in question. The site may see your ordinary public IP.
That does not mean data sent to your bank or any other modern HTTPS service crosses the internet in plain text. HTTPS still protects the connection between the app or browser and the service itself.
So a direct connection and VPN protection are different layers of network logic, each used where the product needs it.
What to remember
- MaskNet lets you use local and international services without switching protection off by hand.
- Banks, government services, marketplaces and other Russian services can use a direct internet connection.
- Other connections can travel through the protected MaskNet network.
- The external IP depends on whether a given connection goes through MaskNet or directly.
- Smart routing manages all of this automatically.