Access is a foregone conclusion: Russia will launch satellites to provide internet for the whole country

In 2026, Russia will launch four satellites into orbit, which will provide high-speed broadband Internet to the entire territory of the country, including the Arctic. This was announced by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the Digital Almaty forum in Kazakhstan. According to him, about 300 satellites will operate in the future, which will be able to fully cover the needs of all EAEU states. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told Izvestia that Russia is open to cooperation in the field of digital technologies and is ready to share them not only with member states, but also with EAEU observers.

Mishustin's participation in the Digital Almaty forum

As part of a three-day working visit to Kazakhstan, on January 31 Mikhail Mishustin spoke at the plenary session of the Digital Almaty forum - the largest event in the CIS in the field of innovative technologies. It is traditionally attended by representatives of business, IT-community, government agencies and international experts.

The Russian Prime Minister participated in Digital Almaty last year as well. He spoke about the active work on the introduction of digital solutions in all spheres, including those based on artificial intelligence. This time, Mishustin focused on means of collecting and transmitting information in real time, as well as the need for next-generation terrestrial and satellite communication systems. One of the key areas of work for the Russian government remains the development of advanced space constellations and systems to provide new-level services.

- Next year it is planned to launch four communications spacecraft into highly elliptical orbit, which will provide, among other things, services for broadband access to fast Internet throughout the Russian Federation, including the Arctic zone," Mikhail Mishustin said.

He added that in 2027 the basis for its own low-orbit constellation will be created. According to him, in the future there will be about 300 devices, which will be able to fully cover the needs of not only Russia, but all countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) "in cheap and fast, and most importantly, reliable Internet".

- In addition to access to the Internet via satellite, technologies for direct access to satellites from ordinary cell phones are emerging. This makes communication even more accessible and convenient. We must be able to provide users with access to new generation telecommunication services," Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk told Izvestia correspondent Semyon Boykov.

Cooperation in the digital sphere between the EAEU members is already actively carried out. Eight years ago, the countries of the union approved the main directions of the digital agenda until 2025. Information exchange remains an important component of this interaction. One example of successful cooperation between the countries is the joint work of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan in the field of law enforcement.

- There is close contact with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. We exchange information in real time. We have information integration both on road safety and search for criminals," Kazakh Deputy Interior Minister Saken Sarsenov told Izvestia. - We are in constant contact, we hold meetings every year, we communicate. Our interaction is well established.

In addition, Alexei Overchuk noted that Russia is open to cooperation in the field of digital technologies and is ready to share them not only with member states, but also with EAEU observers.

- And why not? They are observers, the status of an observer is quite broadly outlined. But first of all, of course, we are talking about cooperation with the EAEU member states," he said. - Through the EAEU, we suggest that our partners focus on issues of digital sovereignty. Information technologies are playing an increasingly important role, they are becoming an integral part of the lives of ordinary people, companies, and these are things that we need to control ourselves. So we offer a range of technologies that will facilitate this. And unlike many others, we offer our EAEU partners to participate with us in the creation and development of these technologies.

Results of the meeting of the EAEU Intergovernmental Council

Now the EAEU includes five countries - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. In addition, the EAEU has a number of observers. This status has Cuba, Uzbekistan, Moldova, which, however, ignores the meetings of the association after President Maya Sandu came to power in the country. Also at the end of 2024, Iran became an observer. This time in Alma-Ata Tehran for the first time took part in the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, which was held immediately after the plenary session of the forum. By the way, Iran and the EAEU are still waiting for the free trade zone agreement to come into force. It is expected to happen in the first half of this year.

It should be noted that this time there were no Cuban representatives at the meeting. But Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov took part in the meeting. According to him, Baku is ready to make efforts to increase cooperation with the EAEU member states in all directions. Azerbaijan's participation occurred against the background of the process of delimitation of the state border with Armenia and progress in the normalization of bilateral relations.

In general, the EAEU shows good results in all areas of work. According to the Russian Federation, in January-November 2024 the volume of industrial production in the community grew by 4.3%, completed construction works - by 3%, and retail trade turnover - by more than 7.5%.

Following the meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council, an agreement was signed on cross-border admission to the placement and circulation of securities in organized trading in the EAEU member states. It will create a common space for exchange operations, where brokers and dealers will be able to work on the basis of licenses issued by the authorized bodies of the countries of origin. In addition, the parties approved one decision and five orders, one of which, in particular, concerns electronic trade in goods in the Eurasian Economic Union.

Speaking at the meeting, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, in particular, proposed to work out supranational legal and technological solutions to provide EAEU citizens with digital access to public services. According to him, the EAEU should fully realize its logistical potential.

However, comprehensive digitalization of the economy and development of logistics are only one of the areas of work within the union. On January 1, Belarus took over the presidency of the EAEU. Prime Minister of the republic Roman Golovchenko noted that it will be aimed at strengthening joint work in all areas of integration activities. At a meeting in Almaty, he announced the creation of forms of support for a number of cooperation projects in the agro-industrial complex.

- During the year we intend to determine the forms of support with a focus on the implementation of projects in the field of breeding, breeding and seed work in order to ensure maximum sovereignty of our countries in this important area of agro-industrial complex," he told reporters.

According to Prime Minister, the EAEU proceeds from the fact that ensuring the effective functioning of the agro-industrial complex of the association's countries is a fundamentally important task in addressing a set of issues related to food security and maintaining price stability in the domestic market of the union.

The next meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council should be held in August this year in Bishkek.