Russia is making its play for AI supremacy, and it’s bringing friends. President Vladimir Putin announced the AI Alliance Network at the AI Journey conference in Moscow, a coalition designed to connect national AI associations and development institutions from BRICS countries and beyond.
The initiative, sometimes referred to as the BRICS+ AI Alliance, aims to pool resources for collaborative AI research, shared computing infrastructure, regulatory standards, and ethical frameworks.
The founding members include the core BRICS nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Serbia and Indonesia have also joined, with reporting indicating participation from between 20 and 28 countries or entities in total.
Russia has positioned itself as the primary coordinator of the effort. The alliance has laid out a concrete timeline. An international foresight session is scheduled for 2025 to establish joint scientific goals and funding strategies. Further Russia-China AI infrastructure discussions are planned for a May 2026 summit.
On the ethical side, Russia has proposed a Code of AI Ethics that has attracted over 200 signatories, promoting unbiased and culturally sensitive algorithms.
The economic ambitions are substantial. Russia’s National Strategy for AI Development targets AI contributing 11.2 trillion roubles to its GDP by 2030.
Russia’s AI ambitions aren’t new. The country has long integrated AI into its national security and developmental strategies, with major entities like Sberbank and the Russian Direct Investment Fund playing central roles. Sberbank was a key organizer of the AI Journey conference where this announcement was made.
The alliance’s focus on the Global South appears strategic. By offering shared computing infrastructure and collaborative research opportunities to developing nations, Russia is building a technology influence network that doesn’t route through Washington or Brussels.
Notably, the alliance’s discussions have remained within traditional technology and infrastructure fields, with no apparent blockchain or digital asset components. The BRICS+ approach favors state-controlled infrastructure over decentralized alternatives — consistent with China’s ban on crypto trading and Russia’s historically cautious stance toward digital assets. The alliance’s architecture suggests centralized, government-managed compute resources rather than open, permissionless networks.
Source: Putin Launches BRICS+ AI Alliance to Build Rival Tech Infrastructure