RIF Is Alive: Highlights from the 29th Russian Internet Forum

1. A Forum as Barometer: Participation, Themes, and Reach

The 29th Russian Internet Forum, held at Moscow Country Club, gathered 2,764 in-person participants, while more than 117,000 people visited the official site and watched live streams. Over three days, 323 speakers delivered remarks across 152 sessions, covering discussions, workshops, legal salons, roundtables, and key plenary panels.

The thematic axes were “Right to the Future” and “National Rune t Code,” emphasizing not just infrastructure but the sovereign identity of Russia’s digital space. The forum wasn’t just a talk shop: closed formats like a foresight session on IT exports and a breakfast with three deputy ministers focused on education and talent development underscored action and policy direction.

Backing the event were 42 partners, major tech players and strategic institutions deeply embedded in shaping digital sovereignty. Their support transformed RIF-2025 from a conversation space into a showcase for real solutions and practices.

Why does this matter for Americans or global readers? Because forums like RIF reveal what Russia sees as its digital priorities—and thus help us anticipate where competition, cooperation, or conflict may emerge in global tech.

2. Digital Economy on Fast Forward

At RIF, one of the most attention-grabbing revelations came from Dmitry Gulyaev, director of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC). He reported that the Runet economy (Russia’s domestic Internet sector) grew by more than 40 % year over year for the second year running. In 2024, its value reached 24 trillion rubles (≈ $292 billion), and projections suggest 29.5–30.5 trillion rubles (≈ $362–374 billion) in 2025.

This level of growth is not just statistical bragging: it represents the rapid expansion of domestic digital services, platforms, and infrastructure. In practical terms, Russians are consuming more home-grown software, cloud, fintech, gaming, media, and AI tools—and generating value domestically rather than relying wholly on foreign tech.

The forum opened with a high-profile address from the deputy head of the Presidential Administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, who lauded the pace of the industry and called for sustained productivity among participants.

A telling line came from Andrey Sebrant, marketing director at Yandex (a major forum partner). He argued that the term “information technology” is outdated: “Information technology” once referred to data beyond the screen—but now, people receive real goods and services through digital platforms. In other words, the digital becomes physical: banking, health, transportation, commerce—all flow through the circuits.

3. Trust, Security, Sovereignty: Pillars of Russia’s Digital Path

Trust as Infrastructure

A recurring consensus at RIF: user trust is a foundational asset, not just a soft metric. Alexander Aivazov, Senior VP at VK, said:

In short: tech adoption in Russia hinges less on novelty and more on credibility.

Cyber Threats and Defensive Technologies

Cybersecurity loomed large. Speakers from major firms detailed rising digital fraud and underscored that by 2030, cyberattacks will be wielded as instruments of geopolitical influence. The consensus: governments must coordinate protective frameworks, users must be educated, and AI tools must pair with responsible human oversight.

Legal and technical sessions dove deep into data protection, legislation, and privacy architecture—critical domains if digital sovereignty is to avoid becoming digital isolation.

Digital Literacy, Youth, and Values

A session by the “Alliance for Child Protection in the Digital Environment” focused on raising digital literacy among adolescents. Experts stressed embedding values and scaling new content formats that speak the language of youth. This is strategic: the next generation must not merely consume, but understand and shape the digital future.

Import Substitution and the Gaming Frontier

One of the forum’s boldest themes was import substitution. Russian firms presented areas where domestic solutions already lead. But in gaming, only a quarter of studios use Russian software. The challenge: build native game engines and infrastructure to keep intellectual value inside the country.

AI appeared in almost every session as the primary driver of growth. In government, media, marketing—the message: AI handles routine tasks, elevating the value of human professionals who can design, audit, and correct.

Exporting Russian Tech

Sessions on tech exports identify priority markets: BRICS, CIS, the Middle East, Southeast Asia. Speeches underlined that personal relationships, product adaptation, and reliable partners are more valuable than grand strategy. Setting international agreements, especially around AI, was flagged as urgently needed.

Speakers advocating for “Little Tech” startups emphasized their catalytic role in import substitution and called for a unified platform to connect regulators and nascent innovators. In discussions of platform economics, experts converged on a lesson: Russia’s digital ecosystems will thrive only via constructive public–private dialogue, user focus, and preserved innovation capacity.

Media, Ideology, and Digital Culture

Concern over foreign cultural influence was explicit. Experts critiqued “Netflix politics”—the idea that entertainment becomes ideological socialization. Their answer: Russia must build its own media sphere, from news to social networks to neural networks and professional communities, capable of competing not just technically but culturally.

Networking Reimagined: The Cyber Dacha

RIF-2025 introduced Cyber Dacha, a new approach to networking. Through interactive talks, masterclasses, and quests staged in distinct thematic environments, it quickly became a magnetic hub for participants wanting informal dialogue and brainstorming.

To balance rigorous programming, the forum offered evening concerts, live performances, campside singing, dance flash mobs, and games in the “Magic Forest.” These cultural moments allowed attendees to reset, brainstorm, and humanize connections.

Why It Matters — And What It Means Going Forward

RIF-2025 was more than Russia’s premier digital conference: it was a barometer of maturity, integration, and forward ambition. Its strongest message: Russia now sees digital sovereignty not as reactionary insulation, but as proactive infrastructure. The forum advanced real strategies, surfaced constraints, and coordinated actors under shared pillars: sovereignty, trust, and anticipatory growth in a volatile global environment.

For users, the payoff lies in more resilient infrastructure, domestic control over critical platforms, and potentially safer and more trustworthy digital services.

From an external viewpoint, RIF offers America and global tech watchers a lens into Russia’s priorities. Where it invests—AI, gaming, export ecosystems, cybersecurity—may foreshadow future competitive fronts or collaborative openings.