Russia Offers Digital Platforms to Overseas Partners at Kazan Digital Week

Russia is ready to offer foreign partners its social networks, messaging apps and video services, and adapt artificial intelligence models to local laws and cultures, Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadaev told Kazan Digital Week 2026.

Speaking at a plenary session in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Shadaev outlined opportunities to take Russian digital platforms into overseas markets, according to a press release supplied for the forum.

The discussion covered the development of domestic platforms alongside the challenges posed by AI and cyber threats. Speakers said security systems needed to evolve alongside digital technologies.

VK chief executive Vladimir Kirienko cited the MAX messaging app as an example of a Russian platform expanding its reach. He said its user base had grown to 140 million over the past year, including users abroad. The platform had also introduced a Digital ID service and was using AI models, he said.

Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov said the republic had allocated 5 billion rubles to AI development. Its three IT Park sites housed more than 1,000 resident companies, while 343 high-tech companies operated in the Innopolis special economic zone, he said.

Held from October 29 to 31 at the Kazan Expo exhibition center, the forum brought together 19,000 participants from 70 countries, according to the press release.

Its program spanned 10 themes and more than 100 sessions, covering fields including public administration, education, health care, agriculture, finance, culture and cybersecurity. The forum was first held in 2020.