Russia’s Perm region is set to become the first in the country to force owners of private video cameras to connect them to a unified regional video surveillance system in the latest heightening of mass surveillance on Russian citizens.
A decree, signed by Perm Regional Governor Dmitry Makhonin, came into effect on January 25 and is set to be copied in a number of regions across the country as part of Russia’s mass surveillance program.
Makhonin said the decision was made following President Vladimir Putin’s introduction of martial law in the occupied territories of Ukraine back in October 2022. The document, signed by Putin, gives the governors of Russian regions additional powers “to ensure the security” of their respective regions.
Big Brother
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has become increasingly hard for citizens to evade the scrutiny of the authorities, with the government actively monitoring social media accounts and using surveillance cameras against activists and non-activists alike.
The facial recognition system operates in 62 regions across Russia
Earlier this month, traffic lights with facial recognition were tested in the Russian capital, Moscow. At the time the head of the Moscow State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, Alexander Bykov, also proposed making biometrics mandatory for citizens, saying “the provision of biometric data should become a duty, not a right of citizens.” Since the summer of 2023, organizations that work with clients’ biometric data have been required to transfer the data to the state Unified Biometric System.
Facial recognition has already become a key tool in the government’s surveillance arsenal, detaining opposition activists in the metro. After President Putin announced partial mobilization in September 2022, facial recognition cameras were also used to identify those who did not come to the military registration and enlistment office on a summons: arrests were reported in the subway and at the train station.
The facial recognition system operates in 62 regions across Russia, Sergei Suchkov, the CEO of NtechLab, a company that developed one of these systems, reported in October 2023. He said they form part of Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development’s “Data Economy” project, which aims to consolidate existing tools and data to create a holistic picture of citizens and their activities. In November 2023, the Digital Development department reported that regional authorities have no access to private cameras and that the state owns only half of the 1.2 million street cameras in Russian cities. One of its goals, therefore, was to centralize the street video surveillance system. Using private video cameras would play a major role in keeping a close eye on citizens.
The increase in surveillance on Russia citizens has garnered comparisons to China’s network of monitoring systems, the largest surveillance system in the world. With some 700 million facial-recognition cameras, China’s network is used by the central government to monitor citizens.
The system in China uses a variety of internet surveillance, camera surveillance, and other digital technologies and has become increasingly widespread and sophisticated under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration.
