Russia Expands Nationwide Facial Recognition Network
Regional governments are upgrading thousands of street cameras to identify people in crowds — a move officials say will improve safety but also raises familiar questions about surveillance and privacy.
Kemerovo Oblast, in southwestern Siberia, is the latest Russian region to join the country’s growing facial recognition network. Local authorities plan to connect all outdoor security cameras to a centralized system capable of identifying individuals in real time. After a software upgrade, the cameras will be able to recognize faces even in crowded public spaces.
Moscow Set the Template
Moscow first introduced citywide facial recognition in 2017, integrating neural network algorithms into its massive surveillance grid. The system analyzes live footage, determines a person’s gender and age, and cross-references the face with multiple government databases. When a match is detected, an automatic alert is sent to law enforcement.
Officials credit the system with tangible results: according to Kemerovo region governor Ilya Seredyuk, cities using facial recognition have seen an 11.5 percent drop in crime over the past year. The initiative, he says, aims to enhance public safety and speed up police response times.
A Growing Digital Infrastructure
To fully launch the project, authorities will need to upgrade thousands of cameras and finalize both technical and administrative frameworks. The rollout underscores Russia’s broader push to digitize urban management — using AI-driven analytics not just for policing but also for traffic control, healthcare, and public services.
As the network expands beyond Moscow, it signals a major step toward a new kind of city — one where artificial intelligence doesn’t just observe life on the streets, but interprets it.
