Kimi K2.5 competes with GPT-5.4 without VPN

Kimi K2.5 and Chinese LLMs Lead in Tests Accessible from Russia

Chinese models Kimi K2.5, MiniMax M2.7, and MiMo V2 Omni are delivering results on par with global leaders in a benchmark of 54 LLMs across 32 practical scenarios in Russian. The testing utilized prompts from real managers and two calibrated LLM judges. The gap with GPT-5.4 is just 0.06 points—within the range of statistical noise.

Top Models Available Without VPN

Five leaders among models operating in Russia without restrictions:

| Model | Score | Developer |

|--------|------|-------------|

| Kimi K2.5 | 4.74 | Moonshot AI |

| MiniMax M2.7 | 4.69 | MiniMax |

| MiMo V2 Omni (API) | 4.62 | Xiaomi |

| Qwen3.5 Plus | 4.56 | Alibaba |

| Qwen3.5 397B | 4.55 | Alibaba |

All are free for basic use. MiMo V2 Omni costs $0.40/M input tokens—three times cheaper than Gemini 2.5 Pro ($1.25/M), with a score of 4.62 versus 4.46.

Global Top 10 by Benchmark:

• GPT-5.4 — 4.80
• Claude Sonnet 4.5 — 4.78
• GPT-5.2 Pro — 4.78
• Claude Opus 4.5 — 4.78
• Claude Sonnet 4.6 — 4.77
• Kimi K2.5 — 4.74
• MiniMax M2.7 — 4.69
• GPT-5 Mini — 4.69
• GPT-5.2 — 4.69
• GPT-5.4 Mini — 4.63

Model Specialization by Task

Claude Sonnet 4.5 leads in analytics: it builds decision matrices, condition trees, and revision thresholds. Suitable for project planning, decision analysis, and team management.

GPT-5.4 and GPT-5 Mini dominate information search and communication. GPT-5 Mini ($0.002/request) scored 4.78 in communication—higher than GPT-5.2 Pro.

MiniMax M2.7 is best for team management: detailed interview plans, career growth paths, change management with timelines and phrasing. Artifacts like hieroglyphs in Russian text do not affect the core substance.

Among available options, Kimi and MiniMax lag behind leaders by 0.1–0.2 points across categories. VPN is not required for quality access.

Practical Example: Budget Allocation

Scenario: $100K for four initiatives—Software ($30K), Contractor ($45K), Training ($20K), Marketing ($40K). Comparing approaches:

• Kimi K2.5 (4.74): Portfolio categories (base asset, asymmetric bet, hedge, reserve). Cuts the contractor as an "operational band-aid." Thresholds: CAC > $200 — remove marketing; defect rate > 5% — remove software. Conditional logic, scenarios, metrics.

• MiniMax M2.7 (4.69): Expected value, phased plan with transition criteria.

• Qwen3.5 Plus (4.56): Financial analysis with hidden costs, but prone to politically favorable options.

• GigaChat-Ultra (3.26): Python code for arithmetic, funded the contractor, excluded marketing without a framework.

• Alice AI (3.86): Structures content, but cuts off responses at 40–60%.

A 1-point difference determines whether the output is ready for a board meeting.

Results of Russian Models

GigaChat-Ultra (3.26): Superficial analysis, errors in figures, context substitution to the Russian market. In regional tasks (Labor Code of RF, taxes) — hallucinations, confused MCI with MRP.

Alice AI (3.86): Best Russian result, but the gap with Kimi is 0.88 points. YandexGPT Pro 5.1 (3.13) refuses tasks due to "lack of data."

Kimi K2.5 in regional scenarios — 3.85, knows Kazakh tax law better than local models.

Key Takeaways:

• Chinese models close the gap with the top tier to 0.06 points, available free without VPN.
• Russian LLMs (GigaChat, YandexGPT) lag by 1+ point on practical tasks.
• Quality depends on the prompt: structured queries reduce the gap by half.
• Claude for analytics, GPT for communication, MiniMax for management.
• Top 5 available models are all Chinese, with pricing 3 times lower than analogs.

The gap is shrinking quarterly due to the accessibility of Chinese LLMs.

— Editorial Team