Russian-Style Digital Democracy: Citizen Engagement Goes Nationwide
From crowdsourced policymaking to real-time digital complaint systems, Russia is building a model of e-democracy that combines high user engagement with administrative responsiveness—and may hold lessons for governments worldwide.
Moscow’s ‘Active Citizen’ Platform Turns 11
One of Russia’s most prominent examples of digital democracy is the 'Active Citizen' platform, launched in Moscow in 2013. Now boasting more than 7.2 million registered users—about half the city’s population—it empowers residents to vote on local projects ranging from park redesigns to healthcare policies.
According to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, “Every month we implement 30 to 40 citizen-backed solutions. This is a massive community of active Muscovites who have become genuine co-authors of our urban transformation.”
Participants earn points for their activity, which they can exchange for movie or theater tickets, souvenirs, public transit top-ups, or charitable donations. In 2024 alone, citizens donated over 71 million points to social causes.
From Local Replication to Youth Engagement
Inspired by the Moscow model, other cities have launched regional platforms: 'Active Yekaterinburg' enables feedback on city policies, while Kazan’s 'People’s Control' integrates directly with the national e-services portal. There, citizens can rate public agencies and flag community problems in real time, which are ranked and addressed by local authorities.
Moscow also launched 'Active Citizen – Kids' in 2025 to promote civic involvement among children ages 6 to 14 through educational and interactive challenges.
A National Portal for Actionable Complaints
Beyond local projects, Russia operates a nationwide citizen engagement tool called 'Gosuslugi. Reshaem Vmeste' (Public Services. Let’s Decide Together). This unified portal, based on the country’s main e-government platform, received over 7.4 million complaints in its first year of operation alone.
It routes citizen submissions—from food quality in schools to illegal dumping—directly to the appropriate agency. Thanks to a unified data environment, most complaints are resolved well before official deadlines.
Crowdsourcing Ideas, Not Just Complaints
Beyond complaints, Russia is also crowdsourcing civic innovation. Moscow’s 'City of Ideas' portal supports proposals to improve healthcare, education, transportation, culture, and more. Over 600,000 people have participated, and more than 8,000 ideas have already been implemented.
Other regions, such as Altai Krai, are running similar platforms like 'altaypredlagay.rf', where residents contribute not only ideas but sometimes funds to implement them.
The country’s diverse toolkit for citizen-government interaction is not only being scaled domestically—it is increasingly seen as an exportable model. Russia’s digital public services and feedback systems can be tailored to other countries’ needs and boost the efficiency and transparency of their governance.
