The Russian government has introduced a new law that makes installing a tracking app mandatory for all foreign nationals in the Moscow region.

The new proposal was announced by the chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who presented it as a measure to tackle migrant crimes.

Using a mobile application that all foreigners will have to install on their smartphones, the Russian state will receive the following information:

• Residence location
• Fingerprint
• Face photograph
• Real-time geo-location monitoring

The proposal hasn’t reached its final form yet, and specifics like what happens in the case of device theft/loss or similar technical or practical obstacles are to be addressed in the upcoming period during meetings between the Ministry and regional authorities.

The mass-surveillance experiment will run until September 2029, and if deemed successful, the mechanism will extend to cover more parts of the country.