Russia Tightens Control Over All Citizen Travel, Even Domestic

Russia's Ministry of Transport has drafted an order to expand control over citizen travel: databases will include actual movements, including charters and transfers. The FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will gain access to the data. Experts note that this will speed up the tracking of routes.

Russian authorities plan to expand control over the movement of citizens both within the country and abroad. This is evidenced by a draft new order from the Russian Ministry of Transport, which should update the current rules for collecting passenger information. Since 2024, centralized automated systems have been operating in Russia, where carriers and ticket companies transmit data on trips and bookings. Currently, companies are required to promptly report the purchase and return of tickets, changes in passenger data, boarding and disembarkation, as well as flight departures or cancellations. For rail and air transport, information must be submitted to the system within 15 minutes; for road, sea, and inland water transport, up to 30 minutes. The new version of the order implies expanding the volume of transmitted information: both preliminary and actual trip data, including charter flights, must be entered into the databases. For air travel, it is planned to transmit data on transfers and baggage characteristics. Each trip will be assigned a unique identifier. The databases also receive personal data: phone numbers, email addresses, logins and hashed passwords, IP addresses, and payment information. According to Meduza, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB have access to the systems. Experts interviewed by Verstka believe that the expansion will allow security forces to obtain information about citizens' movements more quickly for operational-search activities and anti-terrorist measures.