Since the start of the experiment on collecting biometric data of foreign citizens at the border, almost 70,000 people have been denied entry to Russia, said Irina Volk, official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, to TASS. All of them were on the list of persons prohibited from entering.
The experiment started on December 1, 2024, at Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky airports, as well as at the Mashtakovo automobile checkpoint in the Orenburg region. On May 1, 2025, Vnukovo joined it. The methodology, developed by the Moscow government, allows identifying foreigners by two parameters — a photograph and fingerprints. During this time, about 14 million foreigners passed through checkpoints.
The system not only collects data but also identifies violators who, after being banned from entering, left the country, changed their identification data, and attempted to re-enter. In June 2026, biometric checkpoints were also equipped in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, and several other regions. Such control becomes a barrier for those trying to circumvent migration restrictions.
How the biometrics experiment at the border developed
Back in September 2024, it became known about plans to launch the collection of fingerprints and digital photographs in Moscow airports from December 1 of the same year. At that time, the logic of the experiment was outlined: first, data is taken at the border, then — the possibility of transmitting it in advance through a mobile application is provided.
In December 2025, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced that over the year the system had screened out about 45 thousand migrants — almost one in ten entrants — and was recognized as successful. It was decided to extend it to other regions of the country.
In October 2025, the government approved the third stage of the experiment: from December 1, 2025, biometrics began to be collected at all checkpoints if technically possible. The exceptions remained the same — citizens of Belarus, diplomats, children under six years old, and a number of other categories.
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