Telegram Remains the Go-To for Russian Lawmakers Despite Push for State-Sponsored Max Messenger

Russian legislators continue to favor Telegram as their primary means of communicating with the public, despite a Kremlin directive encouraging them to transition to the state-sponsored messaging app, Max, according to a report referenced by the Kommersant business newspaper on Friday.

An analysis conducted by the consulting firm Polilog revealed that lawmakers from the ruling United Russia party boast the largest overall Telegram following, with approximately 4.8 million subscribers.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the Speaker of the State Duma and a member of United Russia, has the highest average engagement in terms of post views and reposts among all deputies.

Following him are Alexei Nechaev, the leader of the New People party, his deputy Vladislav Davankov, and Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).

In terms of average views, posts by New People lawmakers draw the most attention, averaging around 31,000 views each—nearly three times the average of 11,200 views for deputies from United Russia.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the LDPR and A Just Russia receive average view counts of approximately 11,400 and 10,600, respectively.

The research also indicated that about 25% of deputies only share text messages on Telegram. In contrast, 55% combine text with images, while 20% post videos. Approximately 116 deputies produce short video clips, referred to as “circles,” and only 23 utilize voice messages. When it comes to sharing content across platforms, Telegram remains their preferred choice.

These findings emerge as the Russian government intensifies its efforts to promote Max, a «national messenger» intended to replace Western-owned applications.

In August, the state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, began limiting calls made via Telegram and WhatsApp.

Around that same time, the presidential administration directed lawmakers and officials to shift their official communications to Max and establish a «priority information system» there, as reported by the exiled news outlet Vyorstka.

The initiative is managed by the state-affiliated organization Dialog, which oversees regional communication centers that facilitate citizen engagement on behalf of the government.

On August 13, Duma Speaker Volodin announced the opening of his Max channel, and parliamentary press offices soon notified journalists that official statements would now exclusively appear on the new platform.

Telegram chats among Duma members at that time indicated that updates would no longer be shared through Telegram, a guideline that most lawmakers seem to have largely disregarded in practice.