CPD: Russian oligarchs refuse to create a "sovereign AI" for Putin
Kyiv • UNN
Rosneft sabotaged Putin's demand due to lack of infrastructure and data. The Russian economy is unable to finance ambitious digital projects in isolation.
A telling failure occurred in Russia's "digital iron curtain" project: the country's largest oil company, Rosneft, headed by Putin's close associate Igor Sechin, effectively sabotaged the dictator's demand to create "sovereign" artificial intelligence. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (CPD), informs UNN.
Details
It is noted that in its feedback on the Ministry of Digital Transformation's draft law, the company directly stated that the development of national AI models in isolation from the rest of the world is technically impossible – because Russia lacks both the necessary infrastructure and a sufficient amount of relevant data in Russian.
This position was also confirmed by complaints from Russian propagandists that the Russian-language generative chatbot GigaChat, created by Sberbank, refers to websites banned by the Kremlin in its responses.
They explain that the discussion about "sovereign AI" demonstrates how the behavior of Russian elites is changing.
"If earlier insane amounts of money were allocated for such whims of the dictator, and companies imitated activity for years, producing 'raw' and uncompetitive products, now they have started to tell the truth. The reason is simple - the economy, exhausted by war and sanctions, is not able to pull off such ambitious digital projects," the CPD summarizes.
Recall
In 2025, the EU recorded 540 cases of manipulation, 147 of which were created using AI. Ukraine became the main target of attacks, and 30% of interventions are attributed to Russia.