Russian agencies are preparing a regulatory framework for the integration of AI agents into industrial software. The initiative aims to break the vicious cycle where developers block the integration of third-party solutions and to give impetus to the development of national sovereign artificial intelligence.
The most mature agent implementations today are seen in customer service and support, software development, the financial sector, retail, and telecom. In industry, such programs already help work with regulatory and design documentation, manage procurement, plan, and maintain internal systems. However, full-fledged AI agents are still found only in select Western products, and calling this a widespread practice would be premature.
Agencies to prepare a list of open protocols
The Ministry of Digital Development, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is developing rules for integrating AI agents into industrial software. A list of open protocols through which agents will be able to interact with software must be presented to the government by December 1, 2026. The AI agent itself is defined as an autonomous software system that independently operates in a digital or physical environment to achieve a set goal.
Industrial companies are already creating agents to work both with software and with the equipment on which it is installed. Such programs accelerate the technological process, but manufacturers sometimes lock their software away from external agents, forcing customers to use only their own solutions. One discussion participant called the initiative more of an antitrust measure, while another clarified that the measure is still being refined.
The Ministry of Digital Development emphasizes that it is too early to talk about mandatory integration into all industrial software. The focus is on compatible application, taking into account enterprise tasks and security requirements.
Few ready-made agents in the Russian registry so far
Vyacheslav Tselkovsky, head of the digital solutions department at Reksoft's industrial automation division, noted that the ultimate goal of any agent is to take over part of a staff employee's work. In industry, this could be a program that itself sends commands to equipment instead of a human.
Dmitry Yudin, director of strategy and AI development at Cloud.ru, estimates the share of solutions with real agent functionality in the Russian software registry at approximately 5%. In total, more than 32,300 products from 11,900 developers are registered there. Globally, this figure among all AI programs reaches 39%.
Analysts at Yakov and Partners estimate the volume of the Russian corporate AI agent market in 2026 at approximately 30 billion rubles. Pavel Prikhodko, chief engineer at Rocket Control, added that such programs are still found only in select Western products and have not become a widespread practice.
Artur Sakharov, technology director at MWS AI (part of MTS Web Services), emphasized that developing and debugging software with a built-in agent is more expensive, and its operation also becomes costlier. But in practice, the time savings from automation outweigh the cost of owning such systems.
My view: This initiative is a timely step toward forming a mature AI agent market in Russia. Standardizing protocols will not only lower entry barriers for developers but also create the groundwork for healthy competition, which is critically important for technological sovereignty under sanctions pressure.