Russia to issue new foreign travel passports
19.04.2004, 17.31
MOSCOW, April 19 (Itar-Tass) -- The introduction of new forms of foreign travel passports will not require the holders of old ones to change them, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said.
“Foreign travel passports are being changed as planned, that is as the old ones expire. Currently they are valid for five years,” Cheklain said on Monday.
He noted that the Interior Ministry had been issuing new forms of foreign travel passports since April 1. “Now when a passport is issued, it will include information about its holder not only in the traditional way but also in a coded form in a special machine-readable area,” he explained, adding that this page would be laminated.
Commenting on reports about passports with biometric data, Chekalin said this would happen in Russia not earlier than in 2006.
“The G-8 countries have come to agreement that it is necessary to develop and gradually introduce a new generation of foreign travel passports,” he said. “These passports will include biometric data on their holders in an electronic form.”
In his words, “This will make it possible to make the identification of citizens more accurate both when documents are issued and when border control is passed.”
The Interior Ministry expects to receive international standards for new foreign travel passports shortly. The G-8 countries have preliminarily decided that biometric data to be included in a passport should contain coded images of its holder’s face and finger prints.
Chekalin said the government would approve the form of the new foreign travel passport by the end of 2005.
itar-tass.com
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