Drozdenko told this after returning from Strasbourg where he attended meetings of the Bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the Bureau of the Chamber of Regions of the Council of Europe. In late 2018, Drozdenko was elected a Vice-President of the Chamber of Regions. During his latest trip, he headed a Russian delegation at the above-mentioned Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
“The Leningrad Region perceives the cybersecurity of smart cities as one of the most important matters. Under a Congress Bureau decision, participants in an upcoming Congress session will discuss it in great detail. The Russian Smart City program covers two cities in the Leningrad Region – Gatchina and Sosnovy Bor. Therefore specific cybersecurity risks and problems, already facing municipal and regional authorities in European states, will be taken into account already at the design stage of the smart city concept and software. I believe this will give Russian concepts a serious advantage”, Drozdenko said.
The Smart Lighting and Smart Public Transport systems will soon be tested in Sosnovy Bor and Gatchina, Drozdenko added. The security system will expand, and a mobile multi-service app will be developed for private users.
“Quite recently, Sosnovy Bor residents started using bank cards and telephones to pay their bus fares. And Gatchina has developed a concept for a joint municipal geographic information website combining local offline and online services and allowing local residents to suggest their own projects to the city administration for discussion”, Drozdenko noted.