MOSCOW, July 1. /TASS/. Competition breeds innovation, so Russia’s national messenger will certainly benefit from rivalry, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing, responding to a question from TASS.

"Everyone wants to see competition, because without competition the Russian messenger will not be able to develop properly, this is clear," the Kremlin representative said, commenting on media reports about placing restrictions on foreign services to promote a homegrown alternative.

The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, adopted a bill on the creation of a multifunctional digital data exchange platform on June 10. Russian tech giant VK’s Max messenger was mentioned as a candidate for the role of such a platform. Max is being developed as a domestic alternative to WeChat, combining chats, calls, mini-apps and bots. Its functionality allows for further integration with the Gosuslugi public services portal so as to resolve all issues in one application.