On June 10, 2025, the Institute of Russian Studies (Director: Prof. Woo-Ik Choi) held its 186th colloquium at the Institute’s conference room as part of the academic activities of the HK+ Humanities Korea Project. The session invited two emerging scholars from the Institute: Dr. Yujeong Kim, Senior Research Fellow, who recently received her Ph.D. in Economics, and Research Professor Hyunjin Kim.

Dr. Yujeong Kim presented on 'The Development of Russia’s Digital Economy and Complementarity with Northeast Asian States.' She defined the digital economy as 'an economy in which all activities are based on information and communication technologies (ICT),' and divided its development into three stages: formative, developmental, and mature.

 -Formative stage: During the Soviet period, marked by the development of personal computers, the introduction of the internet, and the emergence of early e-commerce.

 -Developmental stage: Beginning in 2006 with the spread of smartphones, mobile internet, and the rapid growth of mobile commerce, alongside the adoption of the national program 'Digital Economy,' which propelled systematic advances in digital technologies.

 -Mature stage (transitional): The current phase, where advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and 5G networks are increasingly integrated into various industries.

She emphasized that Russia is pursuing 'technological sovereignty' to reduce dependence on foreign technologies amid Western sanctions. Key strategies include expanding the use of domestically produced software and equipment, and promoting independent innovation such as the AI assistant Alisa, self-driving vehicles, and YandexGPT. Dr. Kim highlighted the particularly prominent role of the public sector in spearheading technology development.

Research Professor Hyunjin Kim then presented on 'The Impact of Economic Inequality on Political Participation in Russia.' He analyzed how income inequality influences citizen engagement in politics within an authoritarian context, arguing that Russia requires a distinct analytical perspective compared to Western democracies. His empirical study utilized official statistical data from 85 federal subjects of Russia covering the years 2000–2021.

The analysis distinguished between institutional participation (voter turnout in presidential and Duma elections, support for the government) and non-institutional participation (frequency of protests and rallies), with explanatory variables including income inequality (Gini coefficient), poverty rate, and urbanization rate. Panel regression results indicated that greater income inequality correlates with a decline in institutional participation. Notably, in urbanized regions with a substantial middle-income population, both turnout and government approval rates were lower, reflecting skepticism toward the political system and diminished expectations for change. Conversely, in certain rural areas, turnout and support remained relatively higher, a pattern interpreted as stemming from expectations for state redistribution policies and the effects of government-driven mobilization.