Cheboksary City Council Chamber Switches to Russian Software
Cheboksary is showing that software import substitution can be carried out gradually, making the process more flexible, faster, and less expensive.
Cheboksary City Council has modernized its council chamber by deploying m2 Congress on Astra Linux Embedded, a Russian embedded operating system. The project replaced the chamber's foreign software while preserving its existing audiovisual hardware. That phased approach to import substitution avoided a large-scale reconstruction and additional costs. Deployment and testing took less than a month, while system configuration time was reduced from about six hours to one.
Council members can now see participant registration, the meeting agenda, the progress of discussions, and voting results in real time. When a microphone is activated, the camera automatically focuses on the speaker, while the operator can create different broadcasting and information display scenarios.
Import Substitution Becomes Faster and More Affordable
Over time, the same approach could be adopted by municipalities, regional legislatures, emergency operations centers, courts, universities, and government agencies. Many organizations continue to rely on fully functional foreign audiovisual hardware even though the software layer now requires replacement or modernization. The ability to migrate these systems to a Russian operating system can accelerate import substitution while reducing its overall cost. And m2 Congress is instrumental in this process because it integrates seamlessly with existing hardware. Its developer also plans to migrate additional products to Astra Linux Embedded and expand its portfolio of solutions that do not depend on foreign software.
The market for Russian embedded operating systems could also grow well beyond council chambers, extending to kiosks, turnstiles, ATMs, security systems, dispatch consoles, and industrial automation. Astra Linux Embedded already serves as a prominent example, having been deployed or tested in Moscow Metro passenger automation systems and dispatch equipment supporting critical infrastructure facilities. And if developers further improve multilingual interface localization and compatibility with internationally available hardware, such platforms could also find opportunities in CIS countries and other friendly markets.
Growing Ecosystems Around Russian Software
Russia has already seen the emergence of domestic communications software ecosystems. In 2021, the Russian videoconferencing platform VideoMost confirmed compatibility with Astra Linux. In 2024, Russian Railways launched major projects to replace system software, including the deployment of Astra Group products for centralized IT infrastructure management. A year later, Russian self-service device manufacturer BFS and Astra Group began developing ATMs and payment terminals running Astra Linux Embedded.
During the same period, Moscow Metro also began migrating its passenger automation systems to Astra Linux. In 2026, Astra Linux Embedded became the foundation of a new generation of Russian SATEL dispatch consoles designed, among other applications, for critical information infrastructure facilities.
A More Flexible Modernization Model
The Cheboksary project demonstrates that import substitution in the public sector is gradually shifting away from costly, full-scale infrastructure replacement toward more flexible modernization of individual components. Similar projects could become commonplace in municipal and regional government over the next few years. Their adoption will largely depend on migration costs, compatibility with existing equipment, ease of operation, and the quality of technical support.
If widely adopted, m2 Congress could establish itself as a domestic platform for managing legislative sessions, conference facilities, and emergency operations centers. However, achieving full technological independence will eventually require replacing not only the software but also the hardware components of such systems.
