By Alexander Marrow
(Reuters) -Russian lawmakers on Tuesday voted for the development of a state-backed messaging app that would be closely integrated with government services, as Moscow strives to reduce its dependency on platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.
Russia has long sought to establish what it calls digital sovereignty by promoting home-grown services. Its push to replace foreign tech platforms became more urgent as some Western companies pulled out of the Russian market following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the Russian parliament’s information policy committee which wrote the draft legislation, said Russia’s app would offer messaging and calls, as well as other functionality that Telegram and Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp do not have.
“The main competitive advantage of the platform will be the deep integration with government services,” Gorelkin wrote on Telegram.
The draft legislation must still pass through the upper house of parliament and be signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.
Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev last week proposed integrating government services with a national messaging app at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, highlighting Russia’s shortcomings compared to other countries in this area.
He praised state-controlled technology company VK, whose VKontakte social media site is accessed by almost 80 million Russians every day, for developing home-grown services such as VK Video, a Russian rival to Alphabet’s YouTube.
VK has been spending heavily on producing content and improving its technical expertise to boost its audience, lurching to a 94.9-billion-rouble ($1.21 billion) loss in 2024.
YouTube’s audience in Russia has dropped sharply in the last year to fewer than 10 million daily users from more than 40 million in mid-2024, as slower download speeds have made it harder for people to access.
Russian officials have blamed the slowdown on Google, accusing it of failing to invest in Russian infrastructure and criticising it for refusing to reinstate blocked Russian channels.
YouTube has said the slowdown was not caused by any actions or technical issues on its side.
Mikhail Klimarev, director of the Internet Protection Society, a Russian digital rights group, said on Telegram that he expected Russia to slow the speeds of WhatsApp and Telegram to make space for the new state messenger, which he has warned may violate personal freedoms.
($1 = 78.4205 roubles)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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