Russian Government Decrees No. 1247 and No. 1259 set up three-year experimental legal regimes for delivery rovers and highly automated airport ground vehicles, with per-unit liability insurance of at least RUB 500,000 for named participants

What do the two decrees set up?

Decree No. 1247, "от 26 сентября 2026 г.", establishes an ELR for transport and logistics services using rovers and approves its Programme. Decree No. 1259, dated 30 September 2026, does the same for highly automated special airport equipment on airport territory. Both are binding government acts, and both bind only inside their sandboxes: the participants, places and term the Programmes list. Neither decree, in the pages we read, prints the day it commences.

Each Programme says "Срок действия экспериментального правового режима составляет 3 года", in our translation that the regime runs for 3 years. A participant's term matches the regime's term. New participants can join through the procedure in Article 11 of the federal ELR law. These terms bind the named participants; neither decree prints the day the three years begin.

The rover regime covers a long list of regions, among them Moscow, St Petersburg, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Moscow and Leningrad oblasts, Krasnodar and Primorsky krais, and the federal territory Sirius. Its named participants are OOO Robodostavka, OOO Dronskhab and OOO SberLogistika. The airport regime is confined to the transport-security zones of Krasnodar (Pashkovsky), Krasnoyarsk, Moscow (Vnukovo), St Petersburg (Pulkovo), Sochi (Adler) and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Khomutovo). It names six airport operators and four manufacturers, including AO Kognitiv Pilot and PAO KAMAZ. Both lists bind only those named, under decrees that print no commencement date.

What does the rover Programme ask of operators?

Paragraph 12 of the No. 1247 Programme sets the rover's physical limits: no wider than 80 centimetres, no longer than 110, no heavier than 120 kilograms without cargo, a top speed of 25 kilometres per hour and a motor of no more than 4 kW. The same paragraph says "на наружную поверхность ровера должен быть нанесен QR-код с данными, позволяющими идентифицировать субъект экспериментального правового режима, осуществляющий эксплуатацию этого ровера". In our translation, a QR code with data identifying the participant operating the rover is applied to its outer surface. These conditions bind the three named operators within the sandbox only, and the decree prints no commencement date.

Paragraph 11 lists equipment: an automated control system with lidar able to scan at least 30 metres, a link to the dispatch system, cameras, lights, an identification number on the body and information-security measures. Paragraph 15 obliges the participant to approve a dispatcher training programme and an operating manual, keep and supply on police request the camera video of any accident for 30 calendar days, and answer calls on the contact number given in its notice to the authorities. All of this binds the named participants inside the sandbox only, with no start date printed in the decree; it sets no equivalent rule for rovers outside it.

The QR code also matters after a minor accident. Paragraph 31 lets the parties to a crash with no injury or property damage leave without paperwork, after recording the scene on photo or video, if they contacted the operator on the phone number in the QR code and reported no claims. That route exists only under this Programme, for the named participants, during a three-year term whose start the decree does not print.

Who carries the RUB 500,000 insurance, and what does it attach to?

For rovers, paragraph 65 says the participant "обязан застраховать и поддерживать застрахованным в течение всего срока действия экспериментального правового режима риск ответственности по обязательствам, возникающим вследствие причинения вреда жизни, здоровью или имуществу других лиц, в пользу третьих лиц на сумму не менее 500000 рублей в отношении каждого ровера". In our translation, it is obliged to insure, for the whole term of the regime, liability for harm to the life, health or property of others, for the benefit of third parties, for a sum of no less than RUB 500,000 for each rover. The duty binds the named rover operators within the sandbox; the decree text sets no commencement date.

For airport vehicles the floor is the same figure but the payer is narrower. Paragraph 53 of the No. 1259 Programme begins "Субъект экспериментального правового режима, являющийся оператором, обязан застраховать", so the duty falls on the participant that is an airport operator, not on the manufacturers. The sum is "не менее 500000 рублей в отношении каждой единицы высокоавтоматизированной специальной аэропортовой техники", per unit of vehicle. It is binding on those operators inside the airport sandbox only, with no start date printed in the decree.

On our reading, RUB 500,000 is a minimum insured sum per unit, owed by the named participants under regimes whose commencement date the texts do not print. Neither Programme presents it as a cap on liability, and neither sets a fine. Neither text says how the cover is priced, what exclusions are allowed or whether one policy can cover a fleet.

How is liability split if something goes wrong?

Under paragraph 27 of the rover Programme, liability under Russian law for harm to third parties falls on the participant. It can also fall on the participant's sole executive body or the person responsible for the rover's technical condition, where a causal link to a defect is established, and on the dispatcher, where a causal link to dispatch failings is established. Paragraph 28 says "Ответственность за нарушение ровером Правил дорожного движения в соответствии с законодательством Российской Федерации несет субъект экспериментального правового режима", in our translation that the participant answers for the rover's breaches of the road traffic rules. Both provisions bind the named participants within the sandbox, and the decree prints no commencement date.

The airport Programme allocates differently. Paragraph 24 places liability for harm to life and health on the sole executive body of the manufacturer in two cases, each with no operator interference in the automated control system and the operating manual followed by the operator: where the vehicle is established not to conform to its technical documentation, and where it is established that incorrect operation of the dispatch system caused the emergency. It falls on the operator's sole executive body where an absence of technical-condition control, regular maintenance and repair is established, or where it is established that incorrect operation of the information-security systems of the vehicle and its infrastructure caused the emergency. The split binds only the named airport participants inside the sandbox, and the decree text prints no commencement date.

Both Programmes treat death caused by non-compliance with their Section IX conditions as a gross breach, and moderate or serious harm to health as a breach. Serious incidents can suspend or end a participant's status through the Ministry of Economic Development. These criteria bind the named participants only; neither decree prints a commencement date.

Where does artificial intelligence appear in the texts?

In each Programme, paragraph 5 lists the technologies the regime applies. The first item is "нейротехнологии и технологии искусственного интеллекта, в том числе технологии в области компьютерного зрения, машинных рекомендаций и поддержки принятия решений", in our translation neurotechnologies and artificial intelligence technologies, including computer vision, machine recommendations and decision support. That is a description of the sandboxed technology, not a free-standing AI obligation, and it has effect only inside these regimes, for the named participants, under decrees that print no commencement date.

The airport Programme adds that the control system monitors the operating zone by "средствами технического зрения", technical vision. Both Programmes say the rules for using intellectual-property results created with AI "настоящей Программой не устанавливаются", are not set by the Programme. So, inside these sandboxes, which bind only the listed subjects and carry no printed commencement date, the texts address AI as a technology in use and leave AI-generated IP untouched.

What we did not verify

What we opened: both decrees in full as scanned PDFs from the Official Internet Portal of Legal Information (36 and 30 pages), read through machine OCR, with the load-bearing pages re-read on the page images: the QR and size limits and the participant list in No. 1247, the insurance paragraph in each, and the participant list in No. 1259. We also opened each decree's portal record for its publication number and date.

What we did not open: the Federal Law on experimental legal regimes itself, including Article 10 (the basis cited) and the articles on suspension, termination and joining; the Government regulations of 2020 the Programmes cite; any insurer's policy wording; and any rule on how and when an ELR's three-year term starts running. We did not confirm the decrees' commencement date.

What we refuse to claim: we do not say these decrees regulate AI, autonomous vehicles or AI liability in Russia generally, that the RUB 500,000 figure caps any liability, or that the QR code or rover limits apply to airport vehicles. We do not say any named company has begun operating under either regime. We make no claim that either decree is the first of its kind.

Translations from Russian are our own. Quotations are copied from the official scanned text as read by OCR and checked against the page images; line breaks are joined and no words are changed or omitted.

Informational analysis for working professionals, not legal advice. Confirm how any rule applies to your situation with qualified counsel.

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