Chernyshenko instructed federal departments to switch to the messenger from VK until May

By the end of April, Russian federal departments must switch to a universal Russian communication service for civil servants, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko gave the corresponding instruction, reported government press office.

We are talking about the automated workplace of a civil servant (AWS GS) developed by VK. This service works in a browser and includes mail, calendar, cloud storage and an internal portal, supports audio and video calls.

“More than 250,000 employees of state authorities use AWP GS daily. But we need to speed up – all federal executive authorities that have not completed the transition must do this no later than April 2023,” Chernyshenko said.

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister called on the regional authorities to join him, explaining this by the requirement of the “geopolitical situation.”

About the recommendations of the government to switch to the service from VK became known even last summer. Then the Ministry of Digital Development noted that by the end of 2023 it is planned to create a federal state system based on this platform and connect all officials to it. The purpose of this work is the import substitution of Telegram and WhatsApp, Microsoft Exchange, Google Docs, Zoom and Skype. The Ministry of Digital Development added that officials would use the service for free.

Earlier, Roskomnadzor banned some Russian companies from March 1 from using foreign instant messengers, including Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, Microsoft Teams, Snapchat and Discord, when providing services. According to the text of the law, the use of foreign messengers is prohibited for those companies that perform a government task or provide public services.