This article examines the evolution of the online public sphere in Russia and its democratic potential, which was several years ago considered as ‘failed’ (Oates, 2008; Fossato, 2008). However the formation of the protest movement “For fair elections” in the Internet in December 2011, that managed a spill-over from online into offline public sphere, has shown that the RuNet was underestimated. The author argues that the democratic potential of the Russian Web has undergone rapid development, not only due to the political conjuncture, but also because of the emergence of a new generation of young “digital natives” coming into political activism. The author also analyses specific features of the online social mobilization in Russia and makes conclusions about the perspectives of deliberative discourse within the Russian web.