IT to the consensus: Roskomnadzor named the working conditions of foreign giants in the Russian Federation

Roskomnadzor named the working conditions of foreign IT companies, if they want to return, they will have to comply with the requirements of four laws. In particular, to open a representative office in the territory of the Russian Federation, to organize the storage of databases, as well as to comply with the requirements for the removal of illegal content. However, the question of the possible return of foreign IT giants remains open, since none of them has yet expressed such a desire, even despite the warming of political relations between Russia and the United States.

Under what conditions will IT giants be able to return

To work in Russia, foreign IT companies must strictly comply with the requirements of Russian legislation, the press service of Roskomnadzor told Izvestia. We are talking about meeting the requirements of a number of laws: "On the activities of foreign persons in the Internet information and telecommunications network in the territory of the Russian Federation", "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection", "On personal data" and "On Communications".

It is these laws that establish requirements for foreign IT companies, explained Yaroslav Shitsle, Head of the IT&IP Dispute Resolution department at the Rustam Kurmaev and Partners Law Firm. The key ones are to open authorized representative offices in Russia, post a feedback form for Russian users on the official website, register a personal account on the Roskomnadzor website and install a traffic counter on its website, the lawyer noted. In addition, it is necessary to organize the storage of databases, as well as fulfill the requirements for the removal of illegal content. These conditions apply to companies with an audience of over 500,000 users, he added.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

At the same time, the question of the possible return of foreign IT giants remains open, since none of them has yet expressed such a desire, even despite the warming of political relations between Russia and the United States.

Legislative measures are aimed at protecting digital sovereignty, increasing the transparency of the work of foreign companies and ensuring the security of Russian users' data, according to State Duma Deputy Anton Nemkin.

"Having a representative office in Russia means that companies will be legally responsible to domestic authorities, and local data storage reduces the risks of leaks and unauthorized access by foreign entities," he told Izvestia.

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The potential return of large foreign companies, such as technology giants and online services, should be assessed primarily in terms of their willingness to comply with Russian legislation, the deputy stressed.

— On the one hand, the Russian market remains attractive for companies themselves, given its scale and active digitalization. On the other hand, meeting legal requirements will require additional investments and changes in operational processes, which not all organizations are ready to do. We still have to see who will actually be ready to take a large number of measures to return," said Anton Nemkin.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov

As for Google's hefty fine, the issue of its cancellation or revision has yet to be considered, he added. However, the fundamental point remains the company's willingness to recognize Russian legal norms and integrate into the regulatory system. If this does not happen, the return of Google and other large companies will be impossible, the deputy concluded.

As Izvestia wrote, by mid-February 2025, the amount owed in only one lawsuit filed by Russian TV channels against Google had grown to 2.86 duodecillion rubles (a figure with 39 zeros) and continues to increase. All the assets on planet Earth would not be enough to pay it off, the lawyers noted.

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Will the business return to foreign solutions

In general, a massive return of Russian customers to foreign suppliers is unlikely, especially given the existing domestic alternatives and increasing legislative control, said Sergey Lipov, Information Technology Director at Edgecenter.

These words are confirmed by the data of Runiti (it unites Rutcenter, <url>, SpaceWeb and a number of other IT companies).: By the end of 2024, the number of Russian projects hosted on the servers of foreign cloud providers continues to decrease. Thus, the German provider Hetzner Online GmbH and the French cloud computing company OVH have the greatest negative dynamics — 14%, respectively. The outflow was 8% in the American provider Amazon WebServices, 7% in Google, and 1% in DigitalOcean.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Korotaev

The active transition to domestic IT products is due to distrust of foreign providers, said Dmitry Odintsovo, TrueConf Development Director. In recent years, businesses have faced numerous cases of sudden restrictions on access to foreign services, which has forced companies to urgently look for alternative solutions.

— As for data security when using foreign cloud services, it is completely outside the control of Russian organizations and depends solely on the policy of a foreign company. This approach is unacceptable for organizations with high information security requirements, as they cannot entrust confidential information to third parties and rely on remote servers abroad," he stressed.

Today, Russian providers are technologically close to completely replacing foreign services. The necessary stack (data storage) and the level of competencies have already been formed for this. This will remain relevant for most companies developing business in Russia, said Sergey Ryzhkov, Head of the Hosting and Professional Services Department at <url>.