Nearly a Quarter of Russians Have Registered on MAX Messenger
Russia is bolstering its digital sovereignty as foreign services that store user data abroad are being replaced by platforms developed at home.
At the Digital Week international forum in Kazan, VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko announced that the audience of the MAX messenger has surpassed 35 million users. According to him, the service now handles more than 15 million calls daily.
The Russian messenger only launched a few months ago, in June 2025, with no more than 200,000 registered users at the time.
In September, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, the federal government, and Roskomnadzor launched official channels on MAX. In addition, some of the country’s largest Telegram channels have already begun moving to the new platform.
Beyond calls and messaging, MAX offers free access to AI-powered GigaChat 2.0, which can transcribe voice messages and generate concise summaries of articles and videos.
