The Russian government, with the participation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, must determine criteria before the end of April 2026 to assess the success of pilot drones within the framework of a special legal mechanism.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued this directive after a related meeting held in January 2026 and the list of tasks was posted on the Kremlin website.
The Cabinet is required to "consider determining the standards for the pilot implementation in the field of autonomous systems under the experimental legal mechanism to be considered successful", thereby laying the basis for "quickly bringing autonomous systems into the sectors of the economy".
In addition, the government will consider establishing "necessary experimental legal mechanisms to use ground-based autonomous systems on public roads and sidewalks". This content applies to delivery and transportation of goods.
This is part of Mr. Putin's directive on implementing measures to accelerate the introduction of autonomous systems into many sectors of the Russian economy.
According to the presidential directive, "The Russian Federation Government, with the participation of executive agencies in federal entities, must take comprehensive measures to accelerate the application of autonomous systems in economic sectors".
The document stated, "self-propelled systems include highly automated vehicles and self-driving vehicles, unmanned aviation systems, self-propelled ships, railway equipment and vehicles, robots and their control systems".
