RIA Novosti
November 6, 2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on Tuesday that the government use smart cameras to identify immigrants.
He said such technology would be able to help the Federal Migration Service keep track of the many migrant workers from former Soviet states who can enter the country without a visa.
The president made the proposal after meeting with the head of a startup company that is using smart cameras to identify people’s faces and vehicles for secure access to bank machines and parking areas.
Public discontent over rising numbers of foreign workers has heated up in recent months, and in Moscow thousands of migrants have been detained in police raids.
Moscow’s entire police force was temporarily put on alert during massive anti-migrant protests last month after an Azerbaijani migrant allegedly killed a 25-year-old Russian.
Hours after the protests, police detained more than 1,200 migrants in a raid on a local vegetable warehouse.
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