Biometric Passports Failed

Just as Kommersant predicted, the process of introducing biometric passports in Russia went into a skid. The Federal Migration Service (FMS) said yesterday that the equipment for recording personal data of a passport’s holder, supplied by Voskhod enterprise, turned out to be unreliable and is breaking all the time. Due to these problems, the beginning of mass issuing of new passports in St. Petersburg is postponed for indefinite time.
Head of FMS in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region Yuri Buryak spoke of difficulties that suddenly appeared when using Voskhod-produced equipment for making biometric passports.

Voskhod, however, claims that FMS employees simply do not have the skills of using the new equipment. Russian government planned to begin mass issuing of biometric passports already in 2007. Yet, only Kaliningrad and Kaliningrad region, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Leningrad region have the necessary equipment so far, according to Voskhod.

Experts believe that biometric documents system will begin working no earlier than in 2010 in Russia. They add it is necessary to allow commercial companies experienced in building large-scale IT-systems to participate in developing the project. Apparently, Voskhod is failing this task.

www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 01, 2007