“Unfortunately Sarkozy thinks that the Internet must be controlled and regulated,” Wales said, describing the eG8 discussions during his press conference in Moscow. “At the G8 meeting, President Medvedev was the only person to say anything sensible whatsoever.”

Medvedev’s enthusiasm for all things online is one reason Wales is so excited about the future of the Internet in Russia. At his press conference, Wales suggested that all the journalists who planned to write about the event title their stories “Medvedev is the only world leader who actually understands the Internet.”

“He (Medvedev) put forward some proposals on the reform of the copyright law,” said Wales. “He understands that the problem is not only the issue of content producers versus pirates, although this question is of course important. He is also proposing that the law should explicitly recognize that there are people who want to share their work freely. So I’m excited about the future of innovation and the internet in Russia because of this.”