Russia Forms New Committees for Digital Development and Artificial Intelligence

Russia’s lower-house State Duma is creating a new committee to oversee artificial intelligence, e-commerce and drone development, officials announced Thursday. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev confirmed the creation of the Committee on Digital Development and Artificial Intelligence during a joint leadership meeting of the ruling United Russia party. Senior party leader Alexander Sidyakin was named as the chairman of the new committee. Sidyakin’s candidacy to lead the committee was first reported by the newspaper Vedomosti, which said he has previously overseen party initiatives supporting drone projects for the Russian military in Ukraine. The new committee brings together policymaking duties in several emerging technology sectors that were previously divided among different parliamentary committees, according to Vedomosti. Russia’s State Duma will also see the creation of the Committee on Criminal and Administrative Legislation, which will be chaired by United Russia member Yury Petrov. That committee is being carved out of the existing Committee on State Building and Legislation, which has handled up to one-quarter of the lower house of parliament’s bills and works with Kremlin lawyers on key legislation. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, whom Medvedev said President Vladimir Putin nominated to continue in his role as speaker , had pushed to transfer part of the workload of the Committee on State Building and Legislation to another committee. Medvedev said Thursday that United Russia is expected to secure 349 of the 450 seats in the State Duma following parliamentary elections this weekend. Final election results are expected to be announced Friday.