On February 26, the New Runet: Free of Scams and Anonymity forum convened at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) Faculty of Law in Moscow. Organized by ROCIT (Regional Public Center for Internet Technology), with the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ serving as the general partner, the event brought together experts to explore online anonymity, evaluate current identification systems, and discuss potential new measures to bolster Runet security.
The forum opened with remarks from Vadim Vinogradov, Dean of the HSE Faculty of Law. Setting the stage for the discussions, he framed the central challenge as finding a global equilibrium, stating:
“The key is to strike a balance between control and anonymity, between security and trust.”
Next to speak was Anton Gorelkin, First Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications and Board Chairman of ROCIT. Gorelkin highlighted the contradictory stance of Western nations on anonymity, particularly within the EU.
“There’s a clear global trend toward mandatory biometric identification. Australia and Europe started with children, and it’s likely only a matter of time before it’s expanded to all adults, with all that entails,” he said. “It’s particularly ironic, given how those same Europeans – and their paid sympathizers here – used to warn us that we’d soon be forced to access the internet with a passport.”
However, Gorelkin stressed that Russia’s approach is not about absolute control, a concept he argued is at odds with the national character.
“It’s no accident that our bill on biometric data explicitly prohibits forcing people to use these systems,” he noted. “Our goal is to find the right equilibrium, and we should ultimately expect the same from foreign digital platforms operating here.”
Alexander Shoytov, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, elaborated on the government’s strategy. He explained that new regulations are a direct response to the most critical threats.
“We’re not implementing restrictions and mandatory identification methods for their own sake,” Shoytov clarified. “These measures are a targeted effort to counter threats to internet stability and safety, protect data security, and combat fraud.”
Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center, shifted the focus to global trends in domain name transparency. He noted that the push to de-anonymize domain registrants is a worldwide issue. Vorobyev highlighted Russia’s highly efficient response to malicious sites:
“Thanks to our self-regulatory mechanisms, it takes an average of just 15 hours from the moment a phishing site is flagged to when it’s blocked,” he explained. “While this beats the 24-hour benchmark recommended by ICANN, 15 hours is still too long. Our ultimate aim is prevention. We want to stop scammers from ever registering a domain, at least in our national zones. Mandatory verification of domain registrants through the ESIA identification system is a key step toward making these zones transparent and secure.”
Lyudmila Bogatyryova, Head of Digital Solutions at the Polylog Consulting Group, brought a crucial perspective on child safety online, noting that most children are online by age four, and by ages 9-11, nearly 99 percent are regular users.
“A major tactic for targeting children and teenagers is creating fake versions of popular games like Minecraft, Brawl Stars, and Roblox,” Bogatyryova warned. “We’re seeing a huge number of these fake mods. Kids download them, unknowingly infecting their devices. Children are objectively vulnerable to fraud as they lack the life experience, the critical thinking skills, and the know-how of website’s legitimacy verification.”
The discussion also featured insights from Igor Ashmanov, President of Kribrum and a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights; Andrey Tsyper, Executive Director of Media at Rambler&Co; Yevgeny Semyonov, Deputy General Director of the Biometric Technologies Center; Igor Alekseyev, Managing Director for Government Relations at Positive Technologies and a ROCIT board member; Pavel Pryanikov, a ROCIT expert, journalist, and blogger; and Ruslan Yusufov, Managing Partner at MINDSMITH and a futurologist.
Following the plenary session, the forum hosted a working meeting for specialists from the Coordination Center, the Ministry of Digital Development, and domain registrar companies. The discussions focused on imminent legislative changes, including the practical implementation of domain registrant identification via ESIA, new accreditation requirements for registrars, proposed updates to the .RU and .РФ domain registration rules, and other critical industry issues.
