Meeting with Andrei Nikitin

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Nikitin, you have been serving as Deputy Minister of Transport for several months now. Could you tell us about your main responsibilities?

Andrei Nikitin: Mr President, you have assigned us an ambitious agenda to drive the digital transformation of the transport sector. A recently signed law mandating the transition to electronic transport documents starting next year was signed recently. This change will allow us to track all cargo movements, both domestically and internationally, with full transparency. Now, we could only make rough estimates of cargo flows between regions, but moving forward, we will have precise, real-time data on what is being transported and where.

We will also gain insight into how quickly goods are moving, which will help us identify bottlenecks, forecast logistics flows, and, based on this data, develop the national digital transport and logistics platform you spoke about at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. We are actively working to bring this vision to life.

In addition, I would like to report on the progress made on implementing one of your key directives outlined in the May executive orders: ensuring that standard cargo can cross the border within ten minutes. We conducted a pilot project at the first designated checkpoint and successfully achieved this ten-minute target. Our next step is to integrate this system with customs and other agencies operating at the border, creating a unified digital process.

Today, in many cases - especially when it comes to agricultural products - up to 100 different documents may be required. These include not only transport-related paperwork but also a wide range of other documents. This significantly slows down the movement of goods, making our exports less competitive. Thanks to the solutions we are implementing, we are moving towards a one stop system, where all necessary documentation will accompany the cargo in electronic form. This concerns cargo flows.

As for passenger traffic, one of the key initiatives currently underway is the digitalisation of discounted fare programmes for eligible beneficiaries. The idea is simple: when a person purchases a ticket, the system automatically checks with the Social Insurance Fund to determine if they qualify for a discount. If they do, the discount is applied instantly with no need to present additional documents. This system is already being tested in a pilot mode.

To be continued.