On 27 April 2006 Moscow held All-Russian Internet Marathon under the auspices of the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications. The marathon was organized by the Regional Public Center for Internet Technologies (ROCIT) with support of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Federal Agency on Information Technologies and Federal Agency on Education.

It is planned that the Internet marathon will represent a series of field events (seminars, round tables, master-classes and presentations) to be held in 7 federal districts of the Russian Federation from April to October 2006.

The Internet marathon aims at promoting Internet technologies in Russian regions and sharing experience in the sphere of IT on regional level. 

In 2006 the marathon is conducted along with the all-Russian festival of regional Internet projects New Reality; it includes a series of events for regional support of the festival, work with nominees and 7 regional juries and determining Internet problems in the regions. On 28 September 2006 the All-Russian Internet Marathon will be concluded in Moscow by the final press conference. Its final “New reality-2006” will be held in Moscow on 17 October 2006.

The All-Russian Internet Marathon was started by the round table Internet in Regions: Feudal Dependence, Imitating the Center, Own Way?.. held in the business center “On Mokhovaya”. It was organized by ROCIT in cooperation with the Institute of the Information Society.

The round table was attended by Yu. Akinshin, head of Department of TV Broadcasting and Mass Communications of the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications; Yu. Petrov, Deputy Head of Department of Development Programs in the sphere of Education of the Federal Agency on Education; and S. Plugotarenko, Deputy Executive Director of ROCIT. The latter informed the round table participants on a project conducted within the Internet marathon - collecting analytical information on regional Internet development. This analytical report will be drafted by ROCIT in cooperation with the Institute of Information Society, UNESCO institute on information technologies in education with support of a number of research and analytical agencies (including Public Opinion Foundation, GfK, ROMIR Monitoring and others). Yu. Hohlov, Chairman of the IIS Board, made presentation and adduced detailed data and figures on the state of regional Internet development.