On Thursday, November 9, the Government of the Russian Federation held a meeting with representatives of the Russian gaming industry. According to Kommersant, it discussed a bill on the mandatory transfer of servers of popular games in the country to Russia.
Recall that the idea to move the servers of the games to Russia was made in October by the head of the International Boxing Association, Umar Kremlev. The games themselves, Kremlev believes, should be hosted in the .ru domain zone, and foreign companies should have offices in Russia. In addition, the Kremlin wants a special gaming regulator to appear in the country, capable of blocking games if necessary. His ideas were supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Kommersant, the "Unified Gambling Regulator" decided to formalize the Kremlin's initiative in the form of a bill. The agency proposed to add at least one more point to the document — to oblige foreign developers with game servers in Russia to pay contributions to a special fund. The money will be used to support the Russian gaming infrastructure.
The newspaper also reports that the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation wants to create a working group with representatives of Russian gaming companies, which will formulate key definitions for the industry. In particular, she should explain what is considered video games and what is an online casino.
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation confirmed to Kommersant the fact of the meeting. It indicated that now there is a "search for approaches to possible regulation in this area."
One of Kommersant's sources added that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko considered the proposals announced at the meeting crude and ordered them to be finalized.