RIGF 2023 — The 13th Russian Internet Governance Forum — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. The 13th Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2023) met in hybrid form at Moscow's SOGLASIE Hall on 6–7 April 2023: roughly 500 registered, 190 on site, 800+ streaming, with some 60 speakers across eight sessions.
2. The UN's Global Digital Compact and avoiding internet fragmentation led the agenda, alongside digital sovereignty, disinformation, child safety, medical AI and the digital workforce; the UN IGF Secretariat's Chengetai Masango joined the opening.
3. In the invasion's second year, Russia billed the event as the region's biggest national forum and worked to keep international touchpoints — a primary source on internet-governance discourse under sanctions.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on RIGF 2023 — The 13th Russian Internet Governance Forum draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. The Global Digital Compact and Avoiding Fragmentation — The UN Channel Endures

Sessions: Opening plenary (6 April, 10:00, moderated by Andrey Vorobyov) and related sessions

"The Russian Internet Governance Forum is the largest national forum in Eastern Europe and Central Asia"
— Andrey Vorobyov (Director, Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ) — translated from Russian [3][2]

• The UN's Global Digital Compact was framed as the vehicle for reconciling the interests of states, corporations and users while preventing network fragmentation [3][2]
• Chengetai Masango of the UN IGF Secretariat spoke at the opening — a formal touchpoint with the UN IGF family maintained despite sanctions [3][2]

2. Digital Sovereignty — Squaring It with a Global Internet

Sessions: Session 2 "Global Internet and Digital Sovereignty" (6 April, 12:15, moderated by Roman Chukov)

"Today, platforms and formats that keep Russia integrated into the international agenda are more important than ever"
— Sergey Plugotarenko (Director General, ANO Digital Economy) — translated from Russian [2][3]

• The session probed how Russia's push for 'sovereign' control of its internet could coexist with staying connected to the global network [2][3]
• Speakers included Vorobyov and MTS's Olga Makarova, while Yik Chan Chin of Beijing Normal University added an international perspective in a parallel session [2][3]

3. Disinformation, Child Safety and Medical AI — The Agenda Gets Personal

Sessions: Session 4 "Accountability of Suspicion", Session 5 "Real and Virtual Worlds: The Red Lines" and Session 7 (AI in healthcare)

• One session tackled countering disinformation; "Red Lines" debated the limits of children's online activity [2][1]
• A healthcare-technology session cast AI and neural networks as tools for developing the health system, alongside sessions on future technologies such as quantum computing [2][1]
• A standalone session on cadres for the digital economy reflected the wartime context of IT-talent flight [2][1]

4. Youth and Awards — Young Voices and .RU at 29

Sessions: Session 8 "Digital Transformation: The Voice of Youth" (7 April, 16:30) and the Virtuti Interneti ceremony (7 April, 10:00)

• The business programme closed with the youth session, reporting back from the IGF 2022 youth track and a special youth course, and announcing the third Youth RIGF for 12 May [3][2]
• The Virtuti Interneti award went to Elena Voronina, with the .RU domain's 29th anniversary also marked [3][2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What changed from the year before?

A. After 2022's fully online September edition, the forum returned to its April slot and hybrid format — 190 people on site and 800+ streaming.

Q. Was it international?

A. The UN IGF Secretariat's Chengetai Masango spoke at the opening and a Chinese scholar took part, but most speakers were domestic — organisers openly framed staying connected to the international agenda as the point.

Q. Why should I care?

A. Whether fragmentation can be avoided is the mirror image of debates like Data Free Flow with Trust — and this is primary material on how the GDC looked from a sanctioned country.

What Is Russia IGF? (for first-time readers)

Russia IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2023 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.

Sources & References

1. RIGF 2023 公式サイト — CGITC (accessed 2026-07-11)
2. RIGF 2023 Program（プログラム・登壇者一覧） — ccTLD .RU/.РФ調整センター (accessed 2026-07-11)
3. Об итогах RIGF 2023（RIGF 2023の結果について・露語） — d-russia.ru (accessed 2026-07-11)
4. Russian IGF（NRIレコード） — UN IGF Secretariat (accessed 2026-07-11)

Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.

Related links

• IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
• Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
• Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/

Revision History

Rev. 1 — published 17 June 2023, 09:00 (Article published)

Rev. 2 — updated 17 July 2026, 12:32 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))

— 中澤祐樹