Now we move on to the main part of the episode, to our main topic.
Why Russia has a high level of ITRussia is a country with vast distances. From Moscow to Vladivostok is almost 10,000 kilometers. Therefore, technology has become a necessity here. We need to act quickly in the modern world, and paper documents are being replaced by digital ones.
In Russia, the IT sector has been developed for a long time. Now we have our own search engines, our own digital maps, our own taxi apps, mail services, document storage, and even our own payment systems.
Many foreigners are genuinely surprised at how deeply digital services have penetrated the daily lives of Russians.
Yandex.Maps and Yandex.NavigatorThe most popular digital maps in Russia are Yandex.Maps. Why? They take into account Russian realities: traffic jams, roads that are not always available on other maps. On the maps you can find organizations, find out their working hours, and even make an appointment to visit the organization, for example, to a hairdresser.
Yandex.Navigator is another great service. It shows not only the road, but also speed cameras and traffic jams. Drivers use it every day. You can build a route from point A to point B and Yandex.Maps will show the best option for how to get to your destination faster. I use this service constantly. Yandex.Maps can also work offline — you can download a city map and use it without the internet.
Yandex.Go and scootersYandex.Go is a super app. In it you can order a taxi, rent a scooter, pay for metro fare, and even buy cinema tickets.
Scooters have become popular in recent years. You can rent them directly through the app. You scan a QR code, and the scooter unlocks. The ride is inexpensive. It's convenient for short trips around the city.
A taxi in Yandex.Go works quickly. You see the price before the trip, know how much you will pay, and can track the driver's route on the map — you can see the car moving on the map!
Public Services (Gosuslugi) — the government in your phoneThe "Gosuslugi" portal is one of the most important digital systems in Russia. Through it, you can get almost all government services. This is not just a website — it is a whole ecosystem that has replaced queues, paper certificates, and endless trips to government offices.
What you can do through Gosuslugi:
- Get a passport
- Register a car
- Make an appointment with a doctor
- Check your taxes
- Pay fines
- Get certificates
- Pay utility bills: for electricity, for gas, and so on
- Submit water and electricity meter readings
All of this is done online.
Now, through the Gosuslugi portal, you can even vote online in elections. Voting in elections means casting your vote in the process of elections, when they choose the president, the mayor of the city, and the like. You don't need to leave your home for this! Very convenient.
The most popular services of Gosuslugi- The first popular service is admission to a higher education institution online — almost 10 million people used this service. Through the portal, you can submit documents to several educational institutions at once, track competitive lists, and register for entrance exams.
- The next popular service is receiving a tax deduction. A tax deduction is what the state can return to you in money for the past year. You paid tax, and then you get a small refund. This is very cool! You don't need to collect different documents and go to the tax office — everything is filled out and sent online from home.
- Another popular service on the Gosuslugi portal is applying for retirement — the service is in demand among pre-retirement age people, that is, people who are finishing their working career due to age. Using this service, you can submit applications, find out the status of pension payments, or request various documents. And you don't need to leave home here either, everything can be done online!
EMIAS — all medicine in your phoneIn Moscow and the Moscow region, there is an EMIAS system — the Unified Medical Information and Analytical System. This is a portal that unites medical organizations and helps a person online to:
- Make an appointment with a doctor
- View test and examination results
- Check prescribed prescriptions
- Get certificates online
- Find out your medical history
I constantly use this app, since it's enough to take a phone in your hands and make an appointment with a doctor or get all the necessary information I need.
The "Our City" appThe "Our City" app helps Muscovites report problems in the city, for example, potholes on roads, non-working traffic lights, garbage in courtyards, and the like. A person takes a photo of the problem, sends a request — and city services solve it. The response comes within 8 business days. I often submit requests in this service and see how quickly city services solve problems.
Tax Office AccountEvery citizen of Russia has a personal account on the tax service website. There you can:
- Find out your income — how much you earned for different periods of time
- Find out how much taxes you paid
- Submit a declaration — a document in which you provide data about your earnings and expenses
- And you can also pay taxes
Previously, to solve these problems, you had to stand in queues. Now everything is done in a few clicks in the mobile application through your phone.
Electronic documents and signatureIn Russia, you can have a "digital signature" — it's like your handwritten signature that you put on documents, but only in electronic form. You can sign documents online, and they have legal force.
In 2025, Russia began testing the digital ruble. This is an electronic version of the regular ruble. You will be able to pay with it through an app, even without the internet. For this, there will be a special offline wallet.
Messenger MAX — national messengerIn Russia, there is its own national messenger — MAX. You know that the most popular messenger in the world is WhatsApp. Now Russia has its own messenger. It already has more than 125 million users. This is not just an app for communication, but also for government services.
MAX has two important features:
1.Digital ID and age verification
Through MAX, you can verify your age in a store when buying alcohol or cigarettes. You don't need to show your passport — now it's enough to show a QR code on your phone.
2.Another important feature of the MAX messenger is registration on Gosuslugi and other services
Through this messenger, you can register on websites and receive codes for login. It is safe and fast.
Mobile apps of banksRussian banks have also become very digital. In bank apps you can:
- Transfer money
- Pay bills
- Open deposits
- Take out loans
- Apply for insurance
All of this is on your phone. You don't need to go to the bank.
Russia is a big country. Without digital technologies, solving many issues would be difficult. Therefore, we are glad that everything can be done through a phone.
ConclusionToday we learned:
- Why Russia has a high level of IT.
- How Yandex.Maps and Yandex.Navigator work.
- What Yandex.Go is and how we use scooters.
- What services can be obtained through the Gosuslugi portal.
- What the tax office account and electronic signature are.
- What the MAX messenger is and how it helps in daily life.
- What mobile apps of banks can do.
Friends, this is all the main text of today's episode. Let's go over the vocabulary words: digital services, navigator, scooter, portal, public services (gosuslugi), tax, application.