Russia Defines Criteria for National AI Models: Experts Say Up to 90% of Companies Will Fail to Meet Them

According to amendments reported by Kommersant, a Russian legal entity-developer must own exclusive rights to the trainable parameters, architecture, and source code of the model to have it recognized as national. Developers may still use third-party components, including open-source solutions. The criteria are planned to be enshrined in a government resolution being prepared by the Ministry of Digital Development. Timofey Voronin, project manager at Intellektualnaya Analitika, estimates that the new requirements could exclude about 90% of Russian startups and companies creating AI products, as many build models on open-source code. Vladimir Nelyub, Director of Science and AI at Astra Group, believes the national status will primarily serve as a tool for working with state data and large government contracts, while other companies can develop industry-specific and narrow models. The procedure for obtaining, suspending, and terminating the status of national and sovereign AI models is still under discussion, with subordinate regulations expected to be adopted in autumn 2026.