Russia is set to introduce mandatory fingerprinting for all foreign nationals entering the country, Russia's Interior Ministry announced Thursday.
Officials hope that the plans will be implemented at Moscow airports early next year.
The issue will be discussed by the Interior and Foreign Ministries with representatives from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorovoy told the Interfax news agency. The majority of Russia's migrants come from the CIS states.
Only foreign nationals applying for certain categories of work permit are currently required to give their fingerprints. Citizens of Britain, Denmark, Myanmar and Namibia have also been required to submit their fingerprints when applying for visas under a trial program launched in 2014.
Approximately 7 million people have their fingerprints stored on the database, the Russian migration service announced in February.
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