New app introduced in Moscow to track migrants

Starting from September 1 this year, a program similar to the "Social monitoring" system used during the coronavirus pandemic will be launched for migrants in Moscow, the capital of Russia. While patients at that time reported their location through the system, the new program will allow authorities to track the whereabouts of migrants. This was announced by Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.

"From September 1, we will introduce another system similar to the social monitoring program used during the COVID period, where people were required to send photos of their location through the application. A similar program will be introduced for migrants, which will allow us to know their whereabouts,” Sobyanin said.

According to his statement, the Moscow authorities have been granted permission to carry out “several pilot projects” aimed at monitoring migrants. According to the mayor, biometric control over migrants has already been introduced at all airports. In addition, an electronic card system is being implemented in Moscow, which will contain all the personal data of migrants.

"Through a QR code, police officers will be able to access all information about a migrant, when they arrived, the duration of their stay, where they are employed, and whether there are any violations of migration regulations. If a red signal appears, it means there is a violation and the officer must detain the individual. If the signal is green, there are no issues", the mayor stated.

Speaking about combating illegal labor migration, Sobyanin noted that “fighting against labor migration, especially under the conditions of the special military operation, is a very bad story”. According to him, employers in the country are currently unable to find nearly 5 million workers.

"Today, migrants can be expelled, but this would lead to serious economic consequences”, he said.

Sobyanin also noted that almost all types of crimes committed by migrants have decreased by nearly one-third over the past 10 years.

It is worth noting that a draft law was earlier reported to have been submitted to the State Duma of Russia, seeking to restrict the entry of underage migrants into the country.