Russia’s Unified Biometric System registering more foreign citizens

Over 200,000 foreign citizens in Russia registered their data in the country’s national biometric database Unified Biometric System (UBS) in 2025 in order to receive or renew their mobile SIM cards. The number of registrations is significantly higher compared to the same period last year, the Center for Biometric Technologies announced last week.

As of January 1st, foreigners are required to submit biometric data to obtain SIM cards in person at service centers. The Unified Biometric System requires both face and voice biometrics and allows for authentication and identification while accessing public and private services such as banking.

The government is currently working on simplifying the process of obtaining SIM cards by allowing them to register biometrics, set up an account on Gosuslugi and obtain the unique number for the mandatory pension insurance system (SNILS) in just one visit to a dedicated service center, according to media outlet Izvestia.

Gosuslugi is the Russian government’s platform that allows individuals and legal entities access to public services.

Russia wants to expand govt biometric platform to businesses

Meanwhile, the country plans to work on connecting businesses to the Unified Biometric System over the next two years.

“Get ready to have UBS integrated into every business in a couple of years,” Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev said in February during a meeting between the government and businesses discussing new anti-fraud legislation.

According to Forbes, the meeting invited representatives of ecommerce firms and other online platforms, including Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex, MegaMarket, Avito, Lamoda, Cian and HeadHunter.

Businesses, however, are expressing disagreement with the government proposal citing “unjustified expenses” and no useful scenarios for using biometrics in their services yet. In response, Shadayev noted that the use of the Unified Biometric System will remain voluntary.

Sixteen organizations have been accredited to work with biometrics as a commercial biometric system (CBS), and about 200 organizations are interacting with the Unified Biometric System, the media outlet reports. The system has reached almost 3 million users, data from the Center for Biometric Technologies shows.

Sberbank to install 1M biometric payment terminals

Banking has been a key sector in propping up the use of the Unified Biometric System.

Russia’s largest bank Sberbank says it has installed 900,000 biometric payment terminals for its Smile to Pay service across the country, with plans for hitting 1 million by the end of the year.

The largest number of active Smile to Pay users are located in Russia’s biggest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The main age groups using the service are  \25 to 44-year-olds (56 percent), followed by customers between 45 and 64 (31 percent), the company says in a release.

“The transaction count in 1Q25 has already surpassed the entire 2024,” says Dmitry Malykh, senior vice president and head of Transaction Banking, at Sber. “This indicates the transition from the initial phase of the innovative technology implementation to the stage of its active adoption by the general public.”

Sberbank and the National Payment Card System (NSPK), operator of the Mir payment system, announced plans to combine face payment services in the second half of 2025 to increase their popularity. Sberbank has also promised to introduce several new biometric-based financial services in 2025.

According to Russian law, all commercial entities are required to transfer collected biometric data to the UBS.

Article Topics

biometric database  |  biometric identification  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  Russia  |  SIM card registration  |  Unified Biometrics System