Business programme

The technological revolution that has made possible the creation of a parallel digital universe has simultaneously given rise to brand new types of challenges and threats. However, many of them can easily be traced to the familiar neo-colonial reflexes of the "collective West" abusing its dominant position in the IT sector and its access to the main levers of Internet governance. The policy of exclusivity and privilege pursued by the West under the label of "rule-based world order" is also being projected onto the global digital space, condemning it to inevitable fragmentation. American internet giants are becoming obedient tools in Washington's information warfare against Russia. The risks are difficult to predict due to the malicious use of the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence. Can the digital dictatorship imposed by the West be resisted? How can we avoid becoming a digital colony of the US and its satellites? What are the opportunities for Russia to strengthen its digital sovereignty? How can Russia maintain its desired degree of self-sufficiency without losing the benefits provided by the world wide web? Is there a contradiction between the digital sovereignty of the state, society and the individual, and how can it be overcome?

Moderator
Alexander Malkevich, First Deputy Chairman, Commission for the Development of the Information Society, Mass Media and Mass Communications, Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation; General Director, Saint Petersburg TV Channel

Alexander Malkevich

First Deputy Chairman, Commission for the Development of the Information Society, Mass Media and Mass Communications, Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation; General Director, Saint Petersburg TV Channel

Panellists
Maria Zakharova, Director, Department of Information and the Press, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Vovan and Lexus, Prankers
Aleksey Pushkov, Chairman of the Commission of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Information Policy and Cooperation with the Media; Senator of the Russian Federation
Alexander Khinshtein, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications

Maria Zakharova

Director, Department of Information and the Press, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Born December 24, 1975, in Moscow
Graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1998 in the field of international journalism. Has the diplomatic rank of Envoy extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the first class.
Joined the Russian Foreign Ministry after graduation. Worked as an editor of the monthly magazine “Diplomatic bulletin”. Acted as the head of the Media operational monitoring department of the Information and Press Department. Worked as Head of the press service of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN in New York from 2005 to 2008. Held various positions in the Central Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2011. Worked as Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2015.
Appointed Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in August 2015.
Candidate of Historical Sciences.
Member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy of Russia, a member of the Board of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Speaks English and Chinese fluently.

Vovan and Lexus

Prankers

Aleksey Pushkov

Chairman of the Commission of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Information Policy and Cooperation with the Media; Senator of the Russian Federation

Russian Senator and Chairman of Federation Council's Commission on Information Policy and Cooperation with the Media.

Born 10 August 1954 in Moscow.
Higher Education: graduated in 1976 from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations with a specialization in International Relations.
Speaks two foreign languages: English, French.
Candidate of Historical Sciences.
1983–1988 – Editor-Consultant to Problems of Peace and Socialism/World Marxist Review (Prague).
1988–1991 – Consultant of the International Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1991–1995 – Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News)
1995–1998 – Deputy General Director, Public Russian Television (ORT)
From 1998 – Head, Author, and Anchor of Postscriptum (TV Centre).
2004–2016 – Member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.
2008–2011 – Director of the Institute of Current International Issues of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
2011–2016 – Member of the State Duma from Perm Territory. Chair of the Committee on International Affairs of the 6th convocation of the State Duma.
From 2004 – Honoured Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation
He holds honourary degrees from Moscow University for the Humanities (MosGU), Russian-Armenian University (Yerevan), and Azerbaijan University of Languages (Baku).
Author of seven books on Russian foreign policy and international relations. His book Globalnye shakhmaty. Russkaya partiya (Global Chess: The Russian Game; Moscow, 2018) has also been published in France.
He has been awarded the Order ‘For Merit to the Fatherland’ 3rd and 4th class, the Order of Honour, and the Order of Friendship. He has also been bestowed the Russian Federation Presidential Certificate of Honour (2020) and a Letter of Appreciation from the President of the Russian Federation. He is a laureate of the Russian Ludwig Nobel Prize and a number of other public and professional awards. He is a member of the MGIMO University Board of Trustees, St. Petersburg Dialogue Forum Coordinating Committee, Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, and the Public Council of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
Married, with a daughter.

Alexander Khinshtein

Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications

Front row participants
Igor Ashmanov, General Director, Kribrum; Managing Partner, Ashmanov and Partners; Member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights
Vadim Glushchenko, Director, Center for Global IT-Cooperation
Igor Lyapunov, Senior Vice President for Information Security, Rostelecom; General Director, Rostelecom-Solar

Igor Ashmanov

General Director, Kribrum; Managing Partner, Ashmanov and Partners; Member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights

Born on 9 January 1962. Graduated from Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Moscow State University with PhD in technical sciences.
Among dozens of products released under his management are Spamtest spam filter (later rebranded as Kaspersky Antispam), ORFO multifunctional spelling checking system (used in Microsoft Office), and a large collection of Medialingua e-dictionaries.
Since 1999, chief research and development officer, then CEO at Rambler. Directed development and release of Rambler’s search engine and most of the services by the company (until their update in 2012).
Since 2001, managing partner (and CEO – till 2015) at Ashmanov and Partners. The company provides integrated Internet marketing services, develops various search and advertising technologies and services.
Igor Ashmanov founded and co-founded startups that make a heavy use of big data technologies, applied linguistics, artificial intelligence, and robotics.
In 2005, he founded Nanosemantics, a company that develops technologies and services based on direct man-machine verbal interaction. In 2010, he founded Metahouse, a startup that develops vertical search engines that involve collecting, storing, and analyzing big data. In 2010, he co-founded Kribrum, a company that provides online service for reputation management and information security.
In 2011, he founded RIWW, a startup that creates mobile apps searching in the content of other mobile apps. In 2012, he founded A&P Media, a company that develops mobile apps based on game mechanics. In 2012, he co-founded Wicron, an applied robotics company that is currently working on a low-budget 3D printer made entirely in Russia, remotely controlled robots, and robots that maintain interaction with users using natural language.
Igor Ashmanov is active participant in multiple government working groups: a Presidential Executive Office based working group on digital economy (“Internet + society” and “Internet + sovereignty” subgroups, led by Igor Schyogolev), a State Duma based Digital Economy Council (led by Vyacheslav Volodin), and the Ministry of Communications based working group on digital economy (“Information security” subgroup).
He is also Skolkovo Foundation expert and lecturer at the Military Academy of Strategic Missile Troops and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, where he delivers lectures on big data, social networks, and information warfare.
Awards: “Man of the year” award in ROTOR contests in 2004 and 2006. Listed by Forbes Russia among TOP30 most influential people on Russian Internet.

Vadim Glushchenko

Director, Center for Global IT-Cooperation

Igor Lyapunov

Senior Vice President for Information Security, Rostelecom; General Director, Rostelecom-Solar