Smolensk Region Introduces New “1-0-1” Standard for Public Services
The region says familiar chatbots will soon be able to guide residents through the entire process, from submitting an application to receiving a service, while social benefits will be assigned automatically.
In the Smolensk Region, social support is shifting to a digital service model in which the government retrieves much of the required information on its own, services are available remotely, and some forms of support are provided proactively.
The work is moving forward on several fronts. First, the region has launched the Moya Sotszashchita. Smolensk (My Social Protection. Smolensk) chatbot. It currently lets residents check the status of an application and the balance of their regional maternity capital. Plans call for adding appointment scheduling and Sotsialnoye taksi (Social Taxi) booking in the near future. Second, the Robot Maks on the Gosuslugi (Public Services) portal already advises residents on 19 regional services and helps them move on to submitting applications. It is now being trained to cover the remaining social support measures. In addition, social protection agencies already obtain about 80% of documents electronically from other government bodies without requiring residents to provide them. This interagency electronic data exchange means people no longer have to track down certificates from different agencies to receive social benefits and services.
According to the regional government, the actual processing time for a number of services has fallen from as many as 30 days in 2023 to five to eight days in 2026. The region is introducing the “1-0-1” standard: one minimally necessary document, zero in-person visits to a government office, and one business day to provide the service. In practice, that should reduce errors when data is transferred and spare residents from collecting information from multiple agencies and visiting them in person.
Automatic Social Support
Over time, the chatbot is likely to offer more than information and appointment scheduling. Its functions could include checking eligibility for support, submitting applications, tracking their status and receiving the final result. The same expansion is expected for other digital assistants. The number of services available without an application is also expected to grow, with government systems identifying a “life event” from registry data, checking eligibility for support and assigning it automatically. Services will increasingly be organized around “life events” rather than individual government agencies.
Russia’s electronic public-services system could also become an export product. Maksut Shadayev, head of Mintsifry (Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation), said in February 2024 that Russia was discussing the export of the Gosuslugi platform with friendly countries. One of the platform’s advantages, he said, was that it does not depend on proprietary foreign software products. That could make CIS countries and other nations developing their own e-government systems among the most likely potential customers.
From Chatbot Adviser to Proactive Services
The Robot Maks appeared on the Gosuslugi portal in November 2021. By November 2022, it was processing almost 1 million requests a day, while Mintsifry reported that the assistant correctly routed users in about 80% of typical cases. In 2022, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection also announced plans to shift social support measures to proactive delivery or a single-application model.
In 2023, numerous social services moved online, including pension applications, child benefits and enrollment in extracurricular programs. The following year, the transition began from individual services to “life events.” In parallel, Moscow has been developing a unified center for processing applications and assigning social support measures, the Sotsialnoye kaznacheystvo (Social Treasury). By December 2024, 46 federal payments were available through this model. Nationwide, the Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State national project calls for 99% of mass socially significant government and municipal services to be available electronically by 2030. For 100 of those services, the target is proactive delivery or providing the result directly when a resident applies.
The Smolensk Region offers a regional example of the shift toward a proactive digital government. Four main directions are likely to shape the development of social services in the coming years. First, the number of electronic social services will increase until all 119 support measures are available online. Second, proactive scenarios will expand, with more benefits and payments assigned automatically or after only minimal confirmation. The third direction is the integration of fragmented services: separate chatbots operated by different agencies could become a single regional digital interface organized around people’s needs. Finally, digital assistants will take on a larger role. Familiar robots such as Maks will begin to understand what a person is asking for, identify the appropriate service and guide the user through the entire process until the service is received.
