Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that approves the development of the state application to send messages integrated with government services to reduce platform addiction such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
Russia has long strives to establish digital sovereignty promoting domestic services.
This became more important because some Western companies withdrew from the Russian market after invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian MPs have pointed out that the state application would have the functional features of which telegram and whatsapp do not have.
Critics warn that due to state control, there will be risks for privacy and personal freedoms.
The director of the Russian Internet Protection Association Mihail Klimarev said earlier this month to expect Russia to slow the speed of whatsappa and telegrams to encourage people to move to a new application.
(Vijesti.ba / Hina)
