June 10 (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers on Tuesday voted

for the development of a state-backed messaging app that would

be closely integrated with government services, as Moscow

strives to reduce its dependency on platforms like WhatsApp and

Telegram.

Russia has long sought to establish what it calls digital

sovereignty by promoting home-grown services. Its push to

replace foreign tech platforms became more urgent as some

Western companies pulled out of the Russian market following

Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of the Russian parliament's

information policy committee which wrote the draft legislation,

said Russia's app would offer messaging and calls, as well as

other functionality that Telegram and Meta Platforms' ( META )

WhatsApp do not have.

"The main competitive advantage of the platform will be the

deep integration with government services," Gorelkin wrote on

Telegram.

The draft legislation must still pass through the upper

house of parliament and be signed by President Vladimir Putin to

become law.

Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev last week

proposed integrating government services with a national

messaging app at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin,

highlighting Russia's shortcomings compared to other countries

in this area.

He praised state-controlled technology company VK,

whose VKontakte social media site is accessed by almost 80

million Russians every day, for developing home-grown services

such as VK Video, a Russian rival to Alphabet's

YouTube.

VK has been spending heavily on producing content and

improving its technical expertise to boost its audience,

lurching to a 94.9-billion-rouble ($1.21 billion) loss in 2024.

YouTube's audience in Russia has dropped sharply in the last

year to fewer than 10 million daily users from more than 40

million in mid-2024, as slower download speeds have made it

harder for people to access.

Russian officials have blamed the slowdown on Google,

accusing it of failing to invest in Russian infrastructure and

criticising it for refusing to reinstate blocked Russian

channels.

YouTube has said the slowdown was not caused by any actions

or technical issues on its side.

Mikhail Klimarev, director of the Internet Protection

Society, a Russian digital rights group, said on Telegram that

he expected Russia to slow the speeds of WhatsApp and Telegram

to make space for the new state messenger, which he has warned

may violate personal freedoms.

($1 = 78.4205 roubles)