Russia’s State Duma passes law regulating AI, requiring ‘respect for traditional Russian values’
Russia’s lower house of parliament passed legislation governing the development of artificial intelligence in the country. The bill cleared two readings in two days — first reading on July 7, second and third readings on July 8.
Among other things, the law introduces the concepts of “sovereign” and “national” large foundational AI models.
A sovereign model, under the law, must be developed entirely in Russia using exclusively Russian components. A national model may incorporate foreign components. Both types must keep their servers and data in Russia.
The government will have authority to designate cases in which only sovereign or national AI models may be used and to set terms for state support of each category.
An RBC source in the IT industry said in June that Sberbank’s model meets the criteria for sovereign status, while Yandex’s qualifies as national.
For training purposes, the law permits the use of copyrighted materials without the rights holder’s consent, provided the materials are publicly available.
The law also requires social networks, media outlets, marketplaces, and other platforms with a daily audience exceeding 500,000 to give users the ability to label AI-generated content. The labeling itself is not mandatory.
The law separately establishes principles for AI regulation, including technological independence, protection of human rights and freedoms, respect for human free will, security, and “consideration and respect for traditional Russian spiritual and moral values.”
If the Federation Council approves the law and the President of Russia signs it, the legislation takes effect September 1, 2026. The labeling provision is set to enter into force on March 1, 2027.
The Digital Development Ministry published the draft law on the government’s regulatory drafts website in mid-March. The original version also included a “trusted” AI model category subject to even stricter requirements than the sovereign and national categories.
Major Russian companies and business associations criticized the first version of the bill, though their objections were incorporated only in part. The provision on “consideration and respect for traditional Russian spiritual and moral values,” which had drawn questions, survived into the final version.
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