As follows from the explanatory note to the draft budget for 2021-2023, Russia will spend almost $218 million in three years. for the federal project "Artificial Intelligence".

 
 In 2021, $54 million are provided for the project, in 2022 - $86 million , in 2023 - $78 million.

 
 The project should ensure the demand for Russian developments in artificial intelligence, support staff and increase the availability of data necessary for the development of AI technologies.

 
 On August 31, 2020, the Government Commission on Digital Development <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/artificial-intelligence-federal-project-was-approved/">approved</a> the federal project "Artificial Intelligence".

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/za-tri-goda-na-federalnyi-proekt-iskusstvennyi-intellekt-budet-potracheno-pochti-16-5-mlrd-rub/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Gazeta.ru

Almost $218 million will be spent on the federal project "Artificial Intelligence" in 3 years

Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation (Mintsifry) proposed to empower itself to harmonize the digital strategies of state-owned companies. This was stated in the instructional guidelines on digital transformation developed by the department and sent for approval, in particular, to the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Agency for State Property Management. In the previous version of the guidelines there was a provision for the annual monitoring of the implementation of such strategies.

 
 The methodical guidelines should coordinate the digital transformation of the priority sectors of economy. They were developed as part of the implementation of the “Digital Economy” national program and will be submitted to the presidium of the government commission for digital development until September 25.

 
 The state-owned companies will develop strategies for a period of at least five years in accordance with the recommendations, Mintsifry noted. The guidelines describe the indicators for the assessment of the implementation of the digital transformation strategy.

 
 As was explained by Sergey Vikharev, the director of technological practice at KPMG in Russia and the CIS, the urgent need to agree on the final document, on the one hand, is caused by dissatisfaction with the quality of previous transformation strategies, and on the other, by the fact that the digitalization of state-owned companies will have to be linked with import substitution programs.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/mintsifry-khochet-poluchit-polnomochiia-po-soglasovaniiu-tsifrovykh-strategii-goskompanii/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Vedomosti

Ministry of Digital Development wants to be authorized to coordinate digital strategies of state-owned companies

The budget of the “Digital Economy” national program until 2024 will be increased from $21.2 billion up to almost $26.5 billion using extra-budgetary sources. This was revealed in the new version of the program passport.

 
 In particular, funding of projects in the field of digital technologies (IoT, big data, quanta, etc.) from extra-budgetary sources will be increased from $5.9 billion up to $11.3 billion. At the same time, funding for information security will be cut by almost half, to $227 million.

 
 The “Digital Technologies” project is to ensure the technological independence of Russia from foreign IT products by 2024. The program is also aimed at stimulating the development of Russian IT companies. State corporations Rosatom and Rostec are among the main participants of the national program.

 
 Earlier, the Ministry for Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media proposed to include the costs for artificial intelligence into this project. However, the business, including Sberbank, responsible for this area, opposed it - they insisted on creating a separate federal project with a budget of almost&nbsp;$1.1 billion.

Kommersant

The budget of the “Digital Economy” national program will be increased to almost $26.5 billion by 2024

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS) proposed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO): a company fined for violating antimonopoly laws and receiving a corresponding order (to stop violations of antimonopoly laws, rules of non-discriminatory access to goods, services or works, and to restore competition) , but not fulfilling it, can be fined again in the amount of twice the first fine. The amount of the new fine may not be less than $1,3 thousand&nbsp; and more than one fiftieth of the proceeds of the offending company in the year preceding the violation.

 
 Such an initiative is contained in the new version of the Fifth Antimonopoly Package, which FAS sent for approval to specialized departments and several specialized associations. The document is aimed at combating digital monopolies, owners of large infrastructure and Internet platforms, if they dominate the market.

 
 In addition, in the new version of the Fifth Antimonopoly Package, the meaning of the term "network effect" is corrected - the dependence of the consumer value of a product on the number of consumers; the institute of experts is introduced, the opinion of which the FAS intends to take into account when considering petitions and antitrust cases.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/fas-predstavila-novuiu-versiiu-zakona-dlia-borby-s-tsifrovymi-monopoliiami/">Original (in Russian)</a>

The Federal Antimonopoly Service presented a new version of the law to combat digital monopolies

According to the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media (Mintsifry), in the first two quarters of 2020, Russian cellular subscribers talked for 231.7 billion minutes. This is more than 12 billion minutes more than in the same period last year.

 
 In the first half of 2019, voice traffic compared to the first half of 2018, on the contrary, decreased by about 4% to 219 billion minutes. Before that, in 2017–2018, there was stagnation.

 
 According to Telecom Daily, conversations using mobile phones regained popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the self-isolation regime.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/mobilnyi-golosovoi-trafik-za-pervye-dva-kvartala-2020-go-vyros-posle-padeniia-sprosa-godom-ranee/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Mobile voice traffic increased in the first two quarters of 2020 after a fall in demand a year earlier

The Russian government changed the official abbreviated name of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media from “Minkomsvyaz” to “Mintsifry”. Corresponding changes were made to the regulation on the ministry.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 <a target="_blank" href="http://static.government.ru/media/files/xoY3WTs2HrtMPvOeBdNlA1FusPd0hAd6.pdf">Decree of September 9, 2020 No. 1389</a>
 </div>
 
 The government also vests the Mintsifry with authority in the field of state
regulation of the work of certification centers, trusted third parties and
verification of their compliance with the requirements of the law “On electronic
signature”.
The ministry acquired such powers after the adjustment of the federal legislation.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/minkomsviaz-ofitsialno-pereimenovana-v-mintsifry/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Minkomsvyaz (the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media) was officially renamed into Mintsifry

The State Atomic
Energy Corporation Rosatom proposed to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Chernyshenko to consolidate federal funding for the development of smart cities
within the framework of a single program. According to the newspaper, the
proposal was voiced by the general director of Rusatom Infrastructure Solutions
(RIR, part of Rosatom) Ksenia Sukhotina during a closed meeting on August 29 in
Sarov.

 
 The RIR company
does not claim to be the only supplier for such a project, the newspaper notes,
while it is ready to introduce a digital platform based on the Internet of
Things in cities.

 
 Other large structures are also involved in the digitalization of cities and the development of IoT in them. Earlier it was announced that Rostelecom plans to become the operator of the new Digital City project (its implementation was estimated at $1,3 billion). Rostelecom is also a partner of the Ministry of Construction in the Digital Region project (estimated at $1,8 billion).

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rosatom-predlozhil-konsolidirovat-finansirovanie-razvitiia-umnykh-gorodov-v-ramkakh-edinoi-programmy/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Rosatom proposed to consolidate financing for the development of smart cities within the framework of a single program

Three Russian IT projects became the winners of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/stocktaking/Prizes/2020">2020 UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes contest</a>. 

 
 Awards were received by:

<ul>
 <li>Rostelecom - in the Access to Information and Knowledge category for the educational project for the elderly and people with disabilities “Alphabet of the Internet”;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia - in the Electronic-government category for the public services quality monitoring system “Your control”;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>&nbsp;“System” LLC (Ekaterinburg) - in the E-Education category for the creation of the first international cyber school of the future for the new IT generation KIBERone.</li>
</ul>

 
 A total of 800 applications were received for the 2020 WSIS Prizes. During online voting 354 projects were selected, and five winners were selected in each of the 18 categories of the contest.

 
 WSIS Prizes is an international contest in the field of information and communication technologies, which implements the activities of the World Summit on the Information Society. The purpose of the competition is to find the world’s best ICT practices.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/tri-rossiiskikh-it-proekta-poluchili-nagrady-mezhdunarodnoi-premii-initsiirovannoi-oon/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation

Three Russian IT Projects Received UN-Initiated International Awards

According to the plan,
the equipment will not be purchased from foreign companies. The technologies will be developed at the facilities of Rostec subsidiaries.

 
 The
document states that investments should help to increase the export value of Russian next-generation microelectronics to&nbsp;$263 million by 2024, and to $683 million by 2030. The
domestic market for solutions based on new generations of microelectronics by
2024 should amount to $6 billion.

 
 This
will require an investment of $8 billion from public funds and&nbsp; $1.3 billion from extra-budgetary funds
(Rostec is ready to invest $394 million). According to the document,
Rostec together with Rosatom will be
responsible for the implementation of the program.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rostekh-razrabotal-dorozhnuiu-kartu-razvitiia-otrasli-mikroelektroniki-trebuiushchuiu-pochti-800-mlrd-rublei/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Rostec prepared a roadmap for the development of the microelectronics that requires almost $10.5 billion

Anton Gorelkin, a member
of the Russian State Duma Committee on Information Policy, made a request to the Federal Antimonopoly Service to conduct a
check of the situation with hindered access of Russian application developers to the Apple operating environment in terms
of abuse of monopoly position in the Russian market.

 
 The deputy claims that
Russian developers have contacted him several times with complaints that they cannot register a developer account in the
Apple system, without which applications cannot appear on the App Store. To confirm the identity, Apple asks
for the billing address from the bank through which the developer will pay for the account, but the data format
provided by Russian banks does not meet the corporation’s requirements, and there is no
connection to the system. As a
result, Russian developers have to
purchase accounts registered in the United States and China on the black
market.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/posle-zhalob-rossiiskikh-razrabotchikov-deputat-gosdumy-prosit-fas-proverit-diskriminatsionnost-dostupa-k-app-store/">Original (in Russian)</a>

After receiving complaints from Russian developers, a State Duma deputy asks the FAS to check the discriminatory nature of access to the App Store

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin spoke about this during the meeting with scientists and entrepreneurs. The adopted AI development program provides grants that will be allocated for the development of small startups and companies. It is planned to provide support to 1200 startups.

 
 The initiative will be implemented as part of the National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence, which was adopted last year.

 
 At the end of August, “Artificial Intelligence”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai/995">federal project</a>&nbsp;and the concept of AI and robotics <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai/980">regulation</a> were approved.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ict_moscow_ai/1006">Original (in Russian)</a>

Interfax

Russian government will allocate $159 mln over the 4-year period to companies and startups in AI

According to Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry
Chernyshenko, “Mobile identifier” for electronic passport has been created and
is currently undergoing certification.&nbsp;

 
 According to him, the application was created
and it remained to solve the issue about certification and encryption of keys
of electronic signatures.

 
 The Ministry of Communications suggested
conducting an experiment from July 1, 2020 until the end of 2021 for citizens
to receive public, municipal and other services using the specialized mobile
app “Mobile identifier” instead of the passport. By August 31, the Ministry
suggested creating the mobile application and infrastructure for its work. It
will be possible to use the app starting from December 1, 2020.

 
 Citizens will not
only be allowed to provide a QR code generated in the application instead of a
passport, but also to apply a smartphone to a reader using NFC technology.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-rossii-razrabotali-prilozhenie-dlia-elektronnogo-pasporta/">Original (in Russian)</a>

TASS

Application for electronic passport was developed in Russia

The government is considering the possibility to ease some requirements for IT and telecom companies. In particular, according to RBC, the draft Plan for achieving the national development goals of Russia until 2024 and for the planning period until 2030 proposes:

<ul>
 <li>Postponing the introduction of the requirements on the mandatory transfer of servers that store personal data of Russians into the territory of the country until October 30, 2022;</li>
 <li>suspending until September 2022 the requirement of the Yarovaya Law to increase the capacity of technical means for storing Internet traffic by 15% annually, to abandon the requirement to store heavy content / video traffic;</li>
 <li>providing holidays in 2020 for paying for the rent of state real estate objects for deploying communications infrastructure;</li>
 <li>&nbsp;ensuring that communications operators and data processing centers enter the wholesale power market.</li>
</ul>

 
 At the moment, the document is still being developed, the newspaper reports.

 
 According to the amendments to the Federal Law “On personal data” that came into effect on September 1, 2015, the information about Russian users must be stored in the territory of the Russian Federation.

 
 According to the Yarovaya Law, telecom operators and organizers of information distribution on the Internet (e-mail services, instant messengers and other services that allow exchanging messages on the Internet) are obliged to store audio recordings of calls, the content of messages of users from July 1, 2018 for a period of six months, and from October 1 of the same year they have to store all Internet traffic for 30 days, annually increasing the storage capacity by 15%.

 
 In April 2020 the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and proposed postponing the introduction of the requirement to increase the storage capacity and exclude video services from capacity calculation.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/pravitelstvo-mozhet-snizit-dlia-kompanii-trebovaniia-po-khraneniiu-dannykh-rossiian/">Original (in Russian)</a>

The government can reduce the requirements for storing data of Russians for companies

The Government Commission on Digital Development approved “Artificial Intelligence” federal project.

 
 The passport of the project was approved within the framework of the “Digital Economy” program. 36.6 billion rubles will be allocated for the implementation of the project (22.5 billion - from the funds of the state program, 6.91 billion - from state program “Development of the electronic and radio-electronic industry”, 6.9 billion - from extra-budgetary sources).

 
 Several agencies including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Rosselkhoznadzor (Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance) refused to approve the project, since it does not include budgetary funding for their activities. In particular, funding for the following projects has not yet been approved:

<ul>
 <li>AI implementation in medical facilities;</li>
 <li>introduction of AI to control the intended use of lands and forecast crop yields;</li>
 <li>AI-assisted interpretation of images from space to reduce the number of violations of land laws.</li>
</ul>

 
 The reduction of the budget of “Artificial Intelligence” federal project was <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/developers-of-artificial-intelligence-federal-project-reduced-its-budget/">announced</a> in the middle of August. It was also announced that the funds will be used to support the demand for AI solutions, training and data availability.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/utverzhden-federalnyi-proekt-iskusstvennyi-intellekt/">Original (in Russian)</a>

“Artificial Intelligence” federal project was approved

The Russian authorities are going to increase the level of citizens’ trust in AI technologies. It is proposed to launch a popularization campaign in the media and social networks and create a national online portal about AI, ‘The Future of Russia. National Projects’ portal reports with reference to the draft passport of the “Artificial Intelligence” federal project.

 
 A trust index will be evaluated as part of the campaign. It will show the amount of respondents who are ready to use artificial intelligence technologies in everyday life.

 
 In 2021 the first events within the campaign will take place, and by 2024 at least 170 lectures should be held. The campaign is expected to reach up to 33 million people.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/doverie-rossiian-k-ii-planiruiut-povyshat-cherez-smi-i-sotsseti/">Original (in Russian)</a>

futurerussia.gov.ru

Trust in AI will be increased through the media and social networks in Russia

Russia
developed a national standard for AI in clinical medicine. The document was
prepared by the experts of Diagnostics and Telemedicine Center together with “Artificial
Intelligence in Healthcare” subcommittee, which is a part of technical
committee 164 “Artificial Intelligence”. 

 
 The first of
the seven parts of the standard has already been edited. It regulates the
methodological basis of the clinical trials process, the procedures for
conducting clinical trials, accuracy indicators, auditing and quality control
of medical intelligent systems.

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 Intelligent systems are aimed at optimizing the work of diagnosticians, automating routine work, providing information support and introducing other options that help doctors. Without unified regulatory and technical standards approved by the professional community on a consensus basis, the practical implementation of artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector is impossible.
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/smorozov.md" target="_blank">
 Sergey Morozov
 </a>
 
 Chairman of the profile subcommittee, Director of Diagnostics and Telemedicine Center
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/razrabotan-natsionalnyi-standart-po-ii-v-klinicheskoi-meditsine/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

RVC JSC (Russian Venture Company)

National AI standard in clinical medicine was developed in Russia

Medical AI systems will be allowed to collect and analyze patient data in Russia. This was stated in the complementary law accompanying the previously adopted law “on experimental legal regimes” prepared by ANO Digital Economy. During the period of three years, medical universities and startups will be able to create and test AI systems using medical images, test results and patient complaints. 

 
 The draft law has already been supported by the working group “Statutory regulation of the digital environment”. The Ministry of Economic Development will soon submit the accompanying law for consideration to the government. If the draft bill is approved, it will be sent to the State Duma.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-rossii-razreshat-sobirat-i-analizirovat-dannye-patsientov-dlia-meditsinskikh-ai-sistem/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Izvestia

Medical AI systems will be allowed to collect and analyze patient data in Russia

Rosstandart
has approved a series of preliminary national standards in the field of the
Internet of Things, sensor networks and the Industrial Internet of Things. The
documents were developed by the Cyber-Physical Systems Technical Committee (TC) on
the basis of RVC with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

 
 Representatives
of Skoltech, Rostelecom, Kaspersky Lab, MegaFon and other companies
participated in the development of the standard.

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 To the already developed and those that are being developed standards that directly define the IoT protocols, we add fundamental documents that are no less important for the development of the market. Thus, the market receives a universal basic toolkit: common semantic approaches, equal opportunities for the formation of the solution architectures, a dialogue to ensure the exchange of data and achieving compatibility of solutions. All this should contribute to the entry of alternative solutions to the market, the development of sustainable digital platforms and the formation of the ecosystems.
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nikita.utkin.5" target="_blank">
 Nikita Utkin
 </a>
 
 Head of RVC Programs, Chairman of Cyber-Physical Systems Committee
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 As ComNews
clarifies, this is the third group of preliminary national standards in the
field of digital technologies, which have been developed by Cyber-Physical
Systems. According to Mikhail Smirnov, director of the InfoWatch expert and
analytical center, they plan to publish the remaining standards soon — in the
field of artificial intelligence terminology and basic standards of
cyber-physical systems.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://mosmed.ai/documents/72/1-%D1%8F_%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%93%D0%9E%D0%A1%D0%A2_%D0%A0_%D0%98%D0%A1%D0%9E_%D0%A1%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8B_%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%B2_%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B5.pdf">Read the document (in Russian)</a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rosstandart-utverdil-standarty-interneta-veshchei/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Rosstandart has approved national standards in the field of the Internet of Things

It was
announced by Mikhail Mishustin at a government meeting.

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 The concept lays down the principles on the basis of which regulations will be improved to create favorable conditions for the development of artificial intelligence and robotics and remove barriers in various spheres, from medicine to space. (…) All innovations introduced taking into account the fact that all artificial intelligence and robotics technologies must be safe for the people and improve human welfare
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 Mikhail Mishustin
 
 Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 In the future, it is planned to strengthen the measures to support developers in this field. Financial incentives are created and public-private partnership will be further developed.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/utverzhdena-kontseptsiia-regulirovaniia-iskusstvennogo-intellekta-i-robototekhniki-do-2024-goda/">Original (in Russian)</a>

ICT.Moscow

Concept for the regulation of Artificial Intelligence and robotics until 2024 has been approved

The test of
unmanned vehicles without drivers in the cabin will be postponed until the
first half of 2021. This is reported by Vedomosti with reference to the
adjusted roadmap of self-driving vehicles implementation on public roads. The
document has already been finalized by the relevant ministries&nbsp;&nbsp; — the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of
Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of
Economic Development, and the discussion of the document in the government will
begin soon.

 
 In the first
half of 2021 companies will receive permission to test unmanned vehicles in
several regions of the country. Currently these tests can only be conducted in
closed test areas.

 
 ***

 
 Also today it
was announced that starting from next year several types of unmanned vehicles
be allowed to drive on dedicated lanes for public transport.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/ispytaniia-bespilotnykh-avtomobilei-bez-voditelei-otlozheny-do-2021-goda/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Self-driving car testing in Russia is postponed until 2021

The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes to oblige companies with state participation over 50% and their subsidiaries to purchase goods from the register of Russian and Eurasian industrial products in accordance with the time plan developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. This information is reported by Kommersant with reference to the projects of three draft decrees of the government.

 
 On August 8, the documents were sent for approval to the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Federal Treasury.

 
 According to Sergei Sukhman, President of Zelix, who is familiar with the process of documents development, purchases based on quotas will be carried out in several key areas: telecommunications equipment, computation tools and data storage systems.

 
 The interviewed participants of the market say that the decisions will have a big impact on large corporations, such as Rostelecom and Rostec, which will have to rebuild the infrastructure.

 
 Russian companies are facing difficulties with entering government procurement markets, and the quotas will be an effective measure to support the domestic manufacturers, Rostec representatives explain.

 
 According to Ivan Pokrovsky, Executive Director of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers Association, the quotas are still being established. They may probably be set at 30-50% of the purchase volume.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/minpromtorg-predlozhil-vvesti-kvoty-na-zakupku-goskompaniiami-rossiiskogo-telekom-oborudovaniia-i-skhd/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to introduce quotas for the purchase of the Russian telecom software and data storage systems by state-owned companies

Since October 1 Russia will change the procedure for
including software products in the Unified Register of software of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of
the Russian Federation. This information was reported by CNews with reference to the minutes
of the meeting of the Expert Council on software of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation dated July 17.

 
 According to the
document,&nbsp; software products - candidates
for being included in the register - will be professionally examined for
compliance with the requirements defined by paragraph 5 of the government
decree dated November 16, 2015 No. 1236 “On establishing a ban on the admission
of the software originating from foreign states for the purpose of&nbsp; procurement to meet state and municipal
needs”.

 
 Until the amendments to this
decree are made, ANO Competence Center
for Import Substitution in the Field of ICT, which is headed by Ilya
Massukh, one of the council members and former deputy head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass
Communications, will be responsible for conducting the preliminary examination.

 
 All necessary documents and
the application for the inclusion of information about the software will be
submitted to the the Ministry of Telecom
and Mass Communications in electronic form on the website of the Register, as
it was done before.

 
 After that, Competence Center for Import Substitution in the Field
of ICT
will verify the application and the documents within two days from the moment
when the application was received. According to the results of the checking,
the Ministry of Telecom and Mass
Communications either registers the application or rejects it. 

 
 If the application is
registered, Competence Center for Import
Substitution in the Field of ICT will prepare a draft expert report which will be
later available on the website of the Register. Only the members of the Expert
Council on software of the the Ministry
of Telecom and Mass Communications will have access to the expert report.

 
 If the responsible members of the Expert Council do not have any
comments on the draft report, a report is generated on the website and signed
by a qualified electronic signature. Based on the unanimous decision of the
responsible members of the Council, the software is included in the register.
If at least one responsible member of the Council does not agree with the
conclusion provided by Competence Center
for Import Substitution in the Field of ICT, the decision is submitted for consideration by the entire
council, which makes the final decision by majority vote.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/s-oktiabria-v-rossii-izmenitsia-poriadok-vkliucheniia-programmnykh-produktov-v-edinyi-reestr-rossiiskogo-po/">Original (in Russian)</a>

CNews

Since October Russia will change the procedure for including software products in the Unified Register of Russian software

The budget of
the federal project entitled “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) was significantly reduced,
reports Kommersant with reference to the letter of Deputy Minister of Ministry
of Telecom and Mass Communications to the federal executive authorities dated
August 13.

 
 At the
beginning of the year, it was proposed to allocate about 90 billion rubles from
budget funds for the project (out of 125 billion in total), but now 22.4
billion will be allocated.

 
 It is reported
that it is not about cutting the budget, but about “changing the approach to
budgeting”: 22.4 billion will become “the central part”, which will be
allocated to cover expenses related to development. The other budget items will
be funded from digitization budgets of other federal authorities.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/razrabotchiki-federalnogo-proekta-iskusstvennyi-intellekt-sokratili-ego-biudzhet/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Developers of “Artificial Intelligence” federal project reduced its budget

The obligation of technological communication networks owners to store traffic for three years for provision to intelligence services will impose significant costs and risks for enterprises. This information was reported by TASS with reference to the review of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) of the corresponding draft law of Minkomsvyaz (the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications). 

 
 According to the RSPP, due to the fact that technological networks are used in many industries (communications, IT, transport, power industry, mechanical engineering, scientific activities, etc.), the implementation of the law will impose significant costs on the owners of such networks and will create risks of disrupting technological processes of enterprises and reduction of the safety of these processes.

 
 In addition, the RSPP considers it unacceptable to extend the requirements for the operators of public communications networks to the owners of technological networks, as the networks have different architectures and can use special means and technologies of communication that are required for production processes. Also, the enterprises currently do not have information systems which must be implemented to meet the requirements for storing traffic, RSPP notes.

 
 The draft law developed by Minkomsvyaz, which amends the federal law “On communications”, implies that the owners of technological networks must store “information about the reception, transmission, delivery and (or) processing of voice data, text messages, images, sounds, video or other messages of communication services users” for three years in the territory of the Russian Federation, and provide intelligence agencies with this information if necessary.

 
 Technological networks include communication networks developed to support the production activities of organizations and enterprises.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rspp-ne-podderzhal-proekt-minkomsviazi-o-trekhletnem-khranenii-trafika-tekhnologicheskikh-setei/">Original (in Russian)</a>

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