Biometric passports introduction delayed / OSP International, 8 Feb 2007
http://www.ospint.com/text/d/3933929/
"According to the Russian Federal Agency for Migration, the introduction of biometric passports in St. Petersburg that was scheduled to start early in 2006 [?] has been postponed. The delay is due to frequent technical faults that cause the equipment used for recording passport holder data to break down. The hardware for the project was supplied by the federal state unitary enterprise Voskhod Institute. Meanwhile, Voskhod claims that the Migration Agency staff have not demonstrated sufficient qualification to operate the hardware. Due to these problems, electronic passports that have been distributed so far do not contain the holder's biometrics." [Brief]