Russian Companies Aim to Make the Global South’s Cyberspace Safer
Many countries across the Global South are building their digital sovereignty models on Russian technologies.
Russian companies providing information security services are increasingly expanding exports to countries of the Global South. Over the past two years, their focus has shifted toward markets of the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. These regions are actively developing the digital components of their economies while simultaneously tightening requirements for data protection and critical infrastructure security.
In many cases, this is no longer about purchasing individual software products or services, but about attempts to build full-fledged models of digital sovereignty. Here, Russia’s experience is seen as practical rather than theoretical.
Oil, Gas, and Telecom
In the Middle East and Africa, spending on cybersecurity is growing by an average of around 15 percent per year. The main customers remain government bodies, the oil and gas sector, energy companies, and telecom operators. Additional momentum comes from national digital development programs, including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and similar initiatives in the UAE and Qatar. Russian cybersecurity products are increasingly viewed in these countries as a practical alternative to Western services, especially in projects where systems must operate under constant cyberthreat risk.
Familiar Partners
In Central Asia—particularly Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan—Russian vendors remain the most familiar partners. This is driven by similar approaches to regulating personal data protection and critical information infrastructure, cultural and linguistic proximity, and the limited presence of Western suppliers. Demand is further fueled by the tightening of national cybersecurity requirements.
Southeast Asia remains a more complex and competitive market, but niches exist there as well. The strongest interest is in products for protecting industrial systems, access management, and monitoring so-called security events. According to Alexander Rozhkov, director of international development at Softline, Russian products are in demand for projects in the public sector, industry, and financial organizations—areas where flexibility of deployment and resilience to combined attacks are critical.
When entering foreign markets, Russian cybersecurity vendors are focusing on product localization, the development of partner networks, and operations through regional offices. This approach allows them to account for local legal requirements and to build cooperation models aimed not at one-off deliveries but at a long-term presence.
