On June 6, 2026, the IT breakfast "Digital. Sovereign. Ours" was held as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The meeting annually becomes a platform for direct dialogue between IT business representatives and government agencies overseeing the development of the Russian IT industry. The event is organized by the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media, the RUSSOFT Association, the ANO "Digital Economy," and the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC).
In the context of global competition and technological transformation, the Russian IT industry faces major challenges: ensuring digital sovereignty, accelerating the implementation of AI solutions, and increasing IT services exports. However, despite significant government support for the IT industry, a number of barriers remain, hindering the sector's development, from a shortage of qualified specialists to difficulties entering international markets. Participants of the IT breakfast, where eXpress CEO and founder Andrey Vratsky presented the platform, discussed practical steps to overcome current obstacles to the development of the IT industry.
This year's event was divided into four sections: human resources, information technology, artificial intelligence, and export. Andrey Vratsky spoke in the final section, where he highlighted the main focus of support measures and changes in the IT industry – government oversight of IT exports.
The CEO of eXpress shared that he and his colleagues had thoroughly studied the pain points of companies already exporting or planning to expand in this area. He found that today, many promising export projects are not implemented simply because companies do not know which government agency to turn to for assistance – and within a few months, it is too late, as the project is taken over by a foreign competitor. In this regard, Andrey Vratsky proposed creating a permanent working group based at one of the industry associations as a point of entry for business inquiries:
"Some of our companies' cases can be resolved with a single phone call, which, however, a representative of a medium-sized business can't make, but a high-ranking official can." And this one call will allow a specific company to resolve its issue, successfully export, and earn money, including for the country.
The full recording of the IT breakfast can be viewed on the SPIEF 2026 website at
Andrey Vratsky's speech in the export section can be viewed at
