Moscow: TASS reports that Moscow uses cameras with facial recognition to locate draft evaders
According to a report published on Tuesday by the state-owned news agency TASS, which cited the city’s chief enlistment officer, Moscow authorities are utilizing the vast system of facial recognition cameras in the Russian capital to locate young men who are eligible for military service.
Last week, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that requires call-up papers to be delivered electronically rather than in person by an enlistment officer or employer and tightens restrictions on draft evaders.
In addition to those called up for service in Ukraine as a result of a mobilization that was announced last year, the measures will make life more difficult for thousands of men between the ages of 18 and 27 who, every spring and autumn, attempt to evade recruitment officers who are attempting to force them to complete their year of compulsory military service.
Maxim Loktev, Moscow’s chief enlistment officer, told TASS, “To determine the place of residence of the conscript, video surveillance systems in the city of Moscow are being used.”
More than 3,000 surveillance cameras in Moscow, according to the Department of Information Technologies in 2017, were linked to a facial recognition system.
Russia is attempting to expand its armed forces and has already mobilized at least 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine. As a result, Russia’s compulsory military service provides a pool of young, trained personnel who can be encouraged or pressured to join the military as professional soldiers.
