PR Agencies in Russia: PromoAge, KROS, Vinci Ranked

The largest PR agency in Russia by 2024 revenue is PromoAge at 1.9 billion rubles, followed by KROS at 1.7 billion and Vinci Agency at 1.2 billion, according to Smart Ranking's report as published by Forbes Russia and ComNews. Smart Ranking forecasts revenue at Russia's 70 largest PR companies of 23.9 billion rubles for 2025, up 27%, and 28.6 billion for 2026.

By the Everything-PR Editorial Team
Published October 29, 2026. Last updated October 29, 2026.

What is the quick summary of Russia's PR market?

• PromoAge led Smart Ranking's list on 2024 revenue at 1.9 billion rubles, double its prior-year result.
• KROS grew 36% to 1.7 billion rubles, and Vinci Agency grew 41% to 1.2 billion.
• Smart Ranking's top-70 forecast is 23.9 billion rubles for 2025 and 28.6 billion for 2026, though experts quoted in the report put 2026 growth between 6% and 20%.
• The figures are self-reported by agencies to a research firm, and the market is shaped by sanctions and the departure of Western companies, so they are best read as directional.

Which are the largest PR agencies in Russia?

PromoAge, KROS and Vinci Agency are the three largest PR and communications agencies in Russia by 2024 revenue, according to ComNews' republication of the Smart Ranking report, which first appeared in Forbes Russia in December 2025.

Rank	Agency	2024 revenue	Growth	Notes
1	PromoAge	1.9 billion rubles	About 2x in a year	Named to a national top 10 of communications companies; staff up by half
2	KROS	1.7 billion rubles	+36% from 1.2 billion	Long-standing work for large organizations
3	Vinci Agency	1.2 billion rubles	+41%	Forecasts at least 15% growth for 2025

Smart Ranking also named the fastest growers in its top 15: Piarhub (+110%), GREATIVE (+66%) and COMUNICA (+62%). Their faster rates partly reflect smaller starting revenue, according to the report.

How big is the Russian PR market?

The Russian PR market is measured in tens of billions of rubles and is forecast to keep growing after a period of contraction. Smart Ranking forecasts that revenue at the 70 largest PR companies will reach 23.9 billion rubles in 2025, up 27%, and 28.6 billion in 2026, according to ComNews.

Experts surveyed for the report expect recovery growth in 2026, with estimates ranging from 6% to 20%. Kommersant headlined a separate Smart Ranking estimate that the PR market as a whole would exceed 36 billion rubles in 2026, and also reported that participants cite economic slowdown and budget cuts. The Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKOS), the industry body, listed 52 member companies in its 2023 annual report.

What is driving growth in Russian PR?

Participants in the Smart Ranking report named three drivers: businesses returning to PR activity, local projects filling niches left by departed foreign companies, and business from friendly countries. The growth leaders were mostly mid-sized agencies, according to ComNews.

Which trends shape Russian PR in 2026?

Smart Ranking's interviews with agency heads identified seven trends. They are summarized here from the ComNews report:

1. Telegram has become the key promotion channel, since it is the largest Russian-language platform with a mass audience after Western social networks left or were restricted.
2. Reputation planning is replacing media plans, with systematic, advance work instead of one-off reach tactics.
3. Neural networks are now daily tools for analytics, content and strategic modeling.
4. Brands are moving from passive formats to interactive engagement.
5. Clients prefer one team to ten contractors.
6. Agencies use big data in communication strategy.
7. Brands and PR firms are building their own media.

Classic PR, which means creating and distributing news hooks, remains relevant, according to Piarhub's CEO Daniil Dymshits and other participants.

Which other Moscow agencies are known?

AGT Communications Group, Mikhailov & Partners, MSL Group Moscow, Grape PR, PR Partner, Socius and IMAGINE PR are other Moscow agencies, and none appears among the three revenue leaders in the Smart Ranking figures above. AGT Communications Group, founded in 1996, topped RIA Novosti's 2012 ranking of Russian PR companies by revenue, according to Sostav's report on that ranking. EPR's Mikhailov & Partners profile covers the agency founded in 1993 by Sergey Mikhailov.

Mikhailov, a long-time director general of the state news agency TASS, was designated under the UK's Russia sanctions regime on May 4, 2022, and the UK amended his entry on November 28, 2025, according to the UK government's financial sanctions notice. Anyone considering an engagement with the firm should take legal advice.

What does the Belarus and CIS market look like?

The PR market in Minsk is small, state-dominated and shaped by sanctions, and it runs through a few long-established agencies.

Agency	Type	Founded	Focus
mc Belarus (IPR Belarus)	Local independent	1993	Reputation management, crisis PR, corporate communications, events, PR education
AGT Communications Group, Minsk office	Regional office of a Russian holding	Group founded 1996	Corporate communications, regional relations, telecom and technology PR

mc Belarus describes itself as the first PR agency in Belarus and was founded by Igor Sokolov. A great deal of communications work is handled by in-house teams at IT companies and banks or by digital and creative agencies, so a two-firm list says more about how the market is built than about a gap in coverage. State media, including the BelTA news agency and the state television channels, dominates domestic distribution, while independent outlets such as Zerkalo and Belsat publish from abroad and have been labeled extremist by Belarusian authorities, which can create legal risk for people inside the country who are quoted in them.

EU, UK and U.S. sanctions imposed after the 2020 election and widened after 2022 hit state-owned enterprises in sectors such as potash, petrochemicals and aviation, along with named individuals, so every client and agency needs screening. IT services remain the largest outbound-communications category, and many technology companies and their communications staff have relocated to Poland, Lithuania, Cyprus or Georgia. For exile-facing or international coverage, agencies in Vilnius or Warsaw are often a better fit than a Minsk firm. See the Poland PR agencies ranking for the nearest large regional hub.

How did Russia's Western PR effort end?

Russia's Western PR effort ended because events outran communications. From about 2006 to 2015 the US firm Ketchum represented the Russian Federation and Gazprom in the United States, placing op-eds and briefing reporters, and the state-funded English-language broadcaster RT launched in 2005. The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics marked the peak of that projection era.

The break came in stages. After the 2014 annexation of Crimea, UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 declared the referendum invalid, sanctions followed, and Ketchum ended the work in 2015. After the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, RT was banned across the European Union and dropped by major US carriers, and Western PR firms with residual Kremlin-adjacent business exited. In March 2023 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin over the deportation of Ukrainian children.

The lesson for communicators is that reputation lives downstream of events. Polished image-making and a global broadcast operation could not survive the invasion of a neighboring country, because communications is one input into a system that also includes court filings, sanctions designations and the primary record. The same pattern shows up in other cases covered in EPR's analysis of big PR firms and the fossil-fuel record, where Ketchum is also a named firm.

What should foreign brands know about Russian PR?

Foreign brands should treat sanctions compliance as the first question and communications as the second. Everything-PR is a publisher, not a law firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice. Companies with any link to Russia should take advice from qualified counsel before hiring or paying an agency.

Neither network affiliation nor independence exempts an agency from sanctions exposure, because designations target individuals and entities directly. Check an agency's legal entity, owners and named principals against current sanctions lists, repeat the check at each renewal, and ask how fees would be paid. Western network agencies are largely absent from the market, so mandates run through Russian agencies or in-house teams, and revenue figures in Russian rankings are self-reported, so ask for audited accounts or client references when comparing firms.

Where can you read more Eastern Europe and global coverage?

Everything-PR covers the region and the global picture. For neighboring markets, see Ukraine's agencies and communications and the Poland PR agencies ranking. For comparison with other countries, see the PR firm rankings and the PR firms directory, and for studies see the foreign influence PR study.