RIGF 2025 — The 15th Russian Internet Governance Forum — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. The 15th Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2025) met at Moscow's Soglasie Hall on 7 April 2025 in hybrid form, with 300+ on site and 2,000+ online, under the theme of digital security 'between sovereignty and global challenges.'
2. Phishing, deepfakes and online fraud dominated, alongside child safety, satellite internet and IT skills; officials announced policies including a state anti-fraud system due in 2026.
3. A milestone edition — organisers called RIGF one of the oldest national forums in the global IGF system — whose shift toward a protection-and-security agenda mirrors a worldwide trend in internet policy.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on RIGF 2025 — The 15th 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. Digital Security of the Runet — Between Sovereignty and Global Challenges

Sessions: Plenary "Digital Security of the Runet: Between Sovereignty and Global Challenges" (7 April)

• Tatyana Matveeva of the presidential administration said the Runet was demonstrating "resilience and active growth" despite sanctions (quoted in English-language coverage) [1][2]
• The plenary mapped the new contour of cyber threats, prevention of AI abuse, and the balance between growing domestic IT and dealing with global tech companies [1][2]
• The session title itself — between sovereignty and global challenges — sums up Russia's post-2022 internet-policy stance [1][2]

2. Fraud, Phishing and Deepfakes — Threats in Numbers, and the State's Response

Sessions: Cybersecurity sections (7 April)

• Deputy digital minister Alexander Shoitov unveiled plans for a state anti-fraud system to launch in 2026 [1]
• Duma deputy Anton Nemkin reported that access to roughly 70,000 phishing sites had been restricted over the previous year [1]
• Fact-checkers counted 61 unique deepfakes in early 2025 alone — already 67% of the total documented for all of 2024 [1]

3. Child Safety and Counter-Disinformation — The Protective Agenda Moves Up Front

Sessions: Sections on child safety online and countering digital disinformation (7 April)

• Elizaveta Belyakova of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment stressed parental responsibility for under-14s on social networks [1][2]
• The disinformation section debated principles for countering digital falsehoods including deepfakes, pairing literacy measures with blocking and regulation [1][2]
• The safety-first agenda reflects Russia's recent regulatory course, which foregrounds user protection over free expression [1][2]

4. Satellite Internet and International Cooperation "Under New Conditions"

Sessions: Sections on satellite internet and international cooperation (7 April)

• Speakers from the space-communications sector, including GPKS head Alexey Volin and Sitronics Space's Milana Elerdova, reported on domestic satellite-internet development [2][1]
• The underlying, sanctions-specific challenge: securing connectivity without access to Western satellite broadband such as Starlink [2][1]
• The section on international cooperation 'under new conditions' featured the Regional Commonwealth in Communications, framing cooperation around the post-Soviet space [2][1]

5. A 15th-Edition Milestone — 'One of the Oldest National IGFs' and Runet Memory

Sessions: Opening remarks and the Virtuti Interneti ceremony with laureate lecture (7 April)

"RIGF is one of the oldest national forums in the global IGF system"
— Andrey Vorobyov (Director, Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ) — from English-language coverage [1][3]

"In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the internet had no cult of privacy and no ubiquitous encryption"
— Pavel Khramtsov (Virtuti Interneti laureate lecture) — translated from Russian [1][3]

• RIGF is traditionally timed to .RU's 7 April registration anniversary; this edition also marked 15 years of .РФ. The first RIGF was in 2010, making this the 15th [1][3]
• The Virtuti Interneti went to Pavel Khramtsov, a Runet pioneer who wrote one of the first Russian-language TCP/IP guides (1996) and built information systems for the Chernobyl response [1][3]
• His lecture traced the internet's shift from a professionals' commons to a commercial space burdened with security threats, urging the community to move past suspicion toward new opportunities [1][3]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What kind of edition was it?

A. The 15th milestone: 300+ in the room, 2,000+ online, and a defence-minded agenda — phishing, deepfakes, child safety — plus the announcement of a state anti-fraud system for 2026.

Q. How does it sit internationally?

A. Organisers stressed RIGF's standing as one of the oldest national IGFs and filed a report with the UN IGF, but speakers were overwhelmingly domestic and 'international cooperation' centred on the post-Soviet space.

Q. Why should I care?

A. Surging deepfakes (early-2025 cases already at 67% of 2024's total) and state-run anti-fraud systems are debates arriving everywhere — and Russia's rush to build domestic satellite internet is a case study in connectivity security.

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 2025 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.

Sources & References

1. 15th Russian Internet Governance Forum was held in Moscow — Izvestia（イズベスチヤ英語版） (accessed 2026-07-11)
2. Опубликована программа Российского форума по управлению интернетом（RIGF 2025プログラム公表・露語） — Lenta.ru (accessed 2026-07-11)
3. Награда Virtuti Interneti вручена Павлу Храмцову（フラムツォフ氏にVirtuti Interneti授与・露語） — Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ (accessed 2026-07-11)
4. RIGF 2025: Russian Internet Governance Forum — Meeting Report — UN IGF Secretariat, NRIs filedepot (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 11 June 2025, 12:00 (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