Russia Plans 10 Billion Rubles Annually for Domestic AI Subsidies

Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development is drafting plans to allocate up to 10 billion rubles per year to support domestic artificial intelligence projects, according to a report by business daily Kommersant citing three people familiar with the discussions.

Under the proposal, roughly 8 billion rubles would be earmarked for development, rollout, and scaling, while 2 billion rubles would cover computational infrastructure. The state plans two main distribution tracks: subsidized bank loans for building infrastructure, preparing datasets, and fine-tuning models; and direct grants covering up to 80% of costs for pilot deployments in government and industry.

The draft terms require grant-backed projects to show solutions that have "no prior domestic equivalents." That vague phrasing has already sparked skepticism within the local tech sector. As Ivideon chief executive Zaur Abutalimov pointed out, applied enterprise machine learning primarily involves adapting existing model architectures to specialized business needs rather than inventing novel foundational technology.

Industry representatives also note that the funds will attract intermediary consultants specializing in winning state tenders rather than producing software. Filipp Modnov of E-Flops warned that smaller engineering teams lack the administrative bandwidth to handle subsidy accounting, leaving room for gatekeepers to capture state money.

Both the digital ministry and the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko confirmed that financial and non-financial support measures are under discussion, noting that exact timelines and criteria have not been finalized.

Source: habr