Russia on the way to open data: current governmental initiatives and policy

Russia for a long period has not been regarded by the outer world as a country with open data. Recent governmental initiatives provoked by President's Decree 2012 are up to change notably the landscape and disclose large data to the society. The ongoing reforms are to open in effective manner till 2015--2016 about 3000 databases used by federal agencies and also bring more local authorities to publish their data. The disclosure should be done under special recommendations revised every half a year and according with specified standards. To control and monitor the realization of the adopted roadmap the Government created a specific Internet portal with a specific register of state organs and authorities' sites with open data and their "open data rankings" based on several criteria including experts and public evaluation. Those vast and considerable alterations are to help Russia to join the club of countries with open data and implement provisions of G8 Open Data Charter.