
Russia to introduce mandatory fingerprinting of foreigners
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is considering an introduction of mandatory fingerprinting for all foreign tourists. The First Deputy Chief the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Alexandr Gorovoy informed about it at the 18th meeting of heads of special services, security agencies and law-enforcement organizations of foreign states in Sochi.
Gorovoy said that his department to plan to take fingerprints from all foreigners arriving in the country, independently of the purpose of visit. According to the police, this will systematize data bank of criminals and prevent entry of undesirable persons or those who participated in the commission of crimes in other countries.
According to Gorovoy, over the past three years, 17 million foreigners enter the territory of Russia annually.
At the same time, since the beginning of this year, more than 30 thousand foreigners have been prosecuted for violations of migration legislation; 2.5 thousand foreigners have been expelled from Russia.