New AI Draft Law
The Government has submitted a new draft law to the State Duma, entitled “On Supporting the Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Russian Federation”.
The first reading is scheduled for 7 July 2026.
The draft law regulates only large foundational AI models (LFMs) - software capable of performing a broad range of intellectual tasks at a level comparable to human intelligence and containing at least 1 billion parameters.
Key provisions of the draft law:
1.Two statuses for domestic models
Sovereign model: developed by a Russian developer, fully reproducible throughout the entire lifecycle, hosted on Russian servers, and “checked” for compliance with traditional values.
National model: developed by a Russian developer, but open-source components of foreign origin are permitted.
The Government would be granted the right to determine the cases in which only sovereign and/or national LFMs may be used.
Developers of such models would be required to implement model security measures, establish rules for models use, and maintain technical documentation describing key parameters and limitations.
In addition, persons providing access to LFMs would have to inform users who own the rights to outputs generated using LFM, and under what terms the user may use and export such outputs.
2.TDM exception
Under Article 10 of the draft law, the use of copyright and related rights objects would not constitute infringement if it is carried out for the purpose of:
An important condition is that the copy of a work protected by copyright or related-rights must have been lawfully obtained or be publicly available.
The TDM exception would not apply to foreign or ordinary Russian LFMs - only to sovereign and national models.
3.AI content labeling
Social media would be required to provide users with the ability to place an information notice on audio and visual content created using AI.
This refers to a technical possibility, not a mandatory labeling obligation.
4.“Traditional values” as a regulatory criterion
Compliance with spiritual and moral values would be a mandatory requirement for assigning sovereign or national model status.
The mechanism for confirming such compliance would be determined by the Government.
5.Effective Dates
The main provisions would enter into force on 1 September 2026.
The obligations for developers, the TDM exception, and the labeling provisions would enter into force on 1 March 2027.
It should be recalled that the previous AI draft law was not supported by the Presidential Council for Codification.
The Government has submitted a new draft law to the State Duma, entitled “On Supporting the Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the Russian Federation”.
The first reading is scheduled for 7 July 2026.
The draft law regulates only large foundational AI models (LFMs) - software capable of performing a broad range of intellectual tasks at a level comparable to human intelligence and containing at least 1 billion parameters.
Key provisions of the draft law:
1.Two statuses for domestic models
Sovereign model: developed by a Russian developer, fully reproducible throughout the entire lifecycle, hosted on Russian servers, and “checked” for compliance with traditional values.
National model: developed by a Russian developer, but open-source components of foreign origin are permitted.
The Government would be granted the right to determine the cases in which only sovereign and/or national LFMs may be used.
Developers of such models would be required to implement model security measures, establish rules for models use, and maintain technical documentation describing key parameters and limitations.
In addition, persons providing access to LFMs would have to inform users who own the rights to outputs generated using LFM, and under what terms the user may use and export such outputs.
2.TDM exception
Under Article 10 of the draft law, the use of copyright and related rights objects would not constitute infringement if it is carried out for the purpose of:
- practical application of the content of such works, including,
- within computer processing, extraction, comparison, classification, and analysis of patterns, trends, and correlations contained in such works; and
- reproduction through short-term storage in computer memory exclusively for training a sovereign and/or national LFM.
An important condition is that the copy of a work protected by copyright or related-rights must have been lawfully obtained or be publicly available.
The TDM exception would not apply to foreign or ordinary Russian LFMs - only to sovereign and national models.
3.AI content labeling
Social media would be required to provide users with the ability to place an information notice on audio and visual content created using AI.
This refers to a technical possibility, not a mandatory labeling obligation.
4.“Traditional values” as a regulatory criterion
Compliance with spiritual and moral values would be a mandatory requirement for assigning sovereign or national model status.
The mechanism for confirming such compliance would be determined by the Government.
5.Effective Dates
The main provisions would enter into force on 1 September 2026.
The obligations for developers, the TDM exception, and the labeling provisions would enter into force on 1 March 2027.
It should be recalled that the previous AI draft law was not supported by the Presidential Council for Codification.