Electronic passports in Russia will contain biometrics and fingerprints

A single document of a new type will begin to be issued in all regions of Russia no later than July 1, 2023, and in Moscow by the end of 2021.

New passports will be issued "voluntarily as soon as they are technically ready, but no later than July 1, 2023", TASS replied in the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia to the agency's request.

As explained in the department, the new passport will be made in the form of a plastic card, it will contain personal and biometric data of the owner.

In addition, at the request of a citizen, his electronic signature will be available on a microcircuit - a chip that is planned to be embedded in an electronic passport. The issuance of a new passport will require digital photographing of the person and scanning of fingerprints.

"The planned start date for issuing a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation, issued in the form of a plastic card containing an electronic data carrier on the territory of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation - as far as technical readiness determined by the government of the Russian Federation, but no later than July 1, 2023".

According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, e-passports will be issued to Russians upon reaching the age of 14. "At the initial stage, it is planned to issue at least 100 thousand such passports", - the department adds.

In Moscow, as previously reported, the issuance of an electronic passport of a Russian citizen will begin earlier, as part of a pilot project - until December 1, 2021.

Currently, preparatory work is being carried out, both of a legal and technical nature. By the end of the year, it is also planned to launch a mobile application for an e-passport with a designation of the list of services that will be available to citizens, the source comments.

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, at the collegium of the department in March this year, reported that the transition to the issuance of certification documents with an electronic carrier and a mobile application is being worked out not only for Russian, but also for foreign citizens. This work is carried out within the framework of the departmental program "Digital Transformation for 2021-2023".

According to him, the introduction of modern technologies in the field of public services is an urgent task of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the implementation of which "will reduce administrative barriers and avoid the need for face-to-face communication".