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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Grigorenko, you wished to begin with the development of the government services portal.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko: Indeed.

Vladimir Putin: Please proceed.

Dmitry Grigorenko: Mr President, we are aware of the attention you devote to technological development, and above all, digital technological advancement and the application of digital technologies in providing public services.

In Russia, the government services portal was established long ago and operates successfully. It serves as a hub where more than 1,600 different types of government services and functions can now be accessed digitally. This is truly very convenient, very straightforward, and citizens have a significant demand for the portal’s further development.

Daily, 14 million people use the portal, while approximately 540,000 to 550,000 individuals physically visit multifunctional centres for government services (MFCs). Fourteen million compared to 545,000. The demand is exceptionally high. More than 100 million people are registered.

Currently, we are working to transform government services into life situations. This is a set of standard services, around 15 to 17, which we are converting into life situations. (I have prepared a presentation for you. If you open it, everything will be clearly visible.)

To date, we have already launched 35 life situations on the government services portal. Incidentally, we formulated these based on feedback from our citizens regarding what suits them and how it suits them. On average, one life situation comprises around 17 services.

On the next page, you can see the services that can already be accessed via life situations on the government services portal – such as loss of documents, relocation to another region, property remodelling, large families, and so forth.

Vladimir Putin: Even hunting and fishing trips?

Dmitry Grigorenko: Incidentally, this is in fact a highly sought-after life situation, because applying for permits is extremely convenient – there is no need to go anywhere, and with a single click, one can comprehensively obtain a hunting permit. Hunting and fishing trips are among the top five most requested life situations. In 2025 alone, more than 100,000 people have used this service.

When we transition to life situations, the average service delivery time is reduced by 35 percent, the number of documents required decreases by one-third, and the number of visits needed to obtain a service is cut by two-thirds – 64 percent. This is genuinely very convenient.

At the end, I provide the top five most requested life situations to date. You can see that already in 2025, more than 2 million people have used the university admission online life situation. This is indeed a highly sought-after service, and applicants use it very actively. Participation in sporting events, hunting and fishing trips – as I mentioned – and retirement. By the way, we launched this life situation quite recently, and 160,000 people have already used it – it has also proven very popular.

Most recently, we launched the protection against fraudsters life situation. This is currently…

Vladimir Putin: This is important, but participation in sports competitions is also quite popular, it ranks third.

Dmitry Grigorenko: Yes, 136,000 participants.

Vladimir Putin: And large families – 124,000. Very good.

Dmitry Grigorenko: One of the most recent focus areas is the fight against fraud. A few months ago, you held a working meeting with the Government and instructed us to develop a package of both legislative and technical measures. We have now adopted a comprehensive federal law, which includes about 30 different provisions aimed at combatting internet fraud.

This is important because, at its core, fraud is the abuse of a person’s trust – simply put, it is deception. And, with your permission, I would like to address our citizens: please remember, if you receive a call from an unknown number, it is safer to hang up and call back later to confirm that it is not a scam.

Secondly, people should understand, or at least develop a kind of digital culture, that passwords to personal accounts, including those on the public services portal, must never be shared over the phone. After all, that is the very purpose of passwords.

As for the measures themselves, we have identified the ten most popular ones. At the top of the list is the self-imposed loan prohibition. By the way, this can be easily requested through the public services portal. With such a restriction in place, even if fraudsters manage to deceive someone, they cannot take out a loan remotely, because the person has already set up this safeguard.

Next, we have introduced a new measure that will take effect in September: call labelling. If a call comes from an organisation, both its phone number and the organisation’s name will be displayed.

In total, we now have about 30 such measures in place.

Vladimir Putin: Criminal liability for “droppers”?

Dmitry Grigorenko: That’s absolutely correct. Quite recently, we introduced a new provision that strengthens liability – up to three years under the Criminal Code. This applies when citizens assist fraudsters by handing over their bank cards, which are then used to cash out money stolen from our people.

Vladimir Putin: And the Central Bank supported this?

Dmitry Grigorenko: Of course. All this work is carried out jointly with the Central Bank and our colleagues in law enforcement. We have even established an advisory body within the Government. It meets regularly, and the measures we adopt are based on ongoing analysis of real cases and current developments.

We are now preparing a second package of measures. One of these is a self-imposed ban on international calls, since the vast majority of people do not receive calls from abroad for personal or work reasons, while fraudsters most often use foreign numbers. This step is proving to be highly effective. In addition, we are developing a system to collect and consolidate data on fraudsters, so that suspicious phone numbers can be immediately identified as fraudulent.

We are also preparing a separate provision to establish tougher liability for cases where artificial intelligence is used in fraudulent activities. New schemes are already emerging that involve voice or image forgery through AI. Such cases must, of course, be treated as aggravating circumstances. Our colleagues in law enforcement fully support this approach.

Another long-standing challenge for the government apparatus is de-bureaucratisation – simplifying internal procedures. We are working actively in this area.

Vladimir Putin: Through a digital model, correct?

Dmitry Grigorenko: Yes, a digital model of public administration. By digitising processes, starting with electronic document management, we can simplify workflows and eliminate unnecessary steps, since bureaucracy tends to accumulate over time. In the Government Office, for example, we have digitised more than 90 percent of our document flow, compared to 40 percent just a few years ago. As a result, the time required to prepare government resolutions and orders has been reduced fourfold.

We are working hard to streamline processes by eliminating everything unnecessary. What does this mean in practice? We remove redundant paperwork, phase out paper documents wherever possible, and eliminate repeated manual data entry. A classic example of inefficiency is the excessive, sequential approval of the same documents, sometimes even sending them back to the very beginning for re-approval.

To address this, we launched a project across all executive authorities – 49 under the Government, with the Ministry of Justice also joining in. Now, we are scaling this initiative to every executive body, aiming to cut out redundancies, simplify procedures, and accelerate decision-making.

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