Russia is days away from forcing migrant workers to download a mobile app which tracks their every moment and shares this information with police. It is also close to making DNA sampling compulsory.
Russia is days away from tracking all migrants and could soon demand their DNA – as fury over housing migrants in hotels in Britain continues to grow. The Big Brother-inspired programme is currently limited to Moscow region and will see foreign workers download an app that shares their location with the authorities, according to Medusa.
According to the independent outlet, the app barely works. The programme was approved Russia’s parliament in late May and will begin in September 1.
Foreign workers coming to the Russian capital will have to download a mobile app called Amina and register their details, which will be shared with the city’s migration authorities and police.
The app will also transmit their geolocation data to the Interior Ministry. Failure to do so could see workers added to the so-called “controlled persons registry” whose members are barred from getting married, opening bank accounts, or enrolling their children in schools in Russia.
However, the app only exists in beta version and is only accessible via Russia’s sponsored app store, RuStore. Users have already reported serious tech issues, such as not being able to download updates, verify phone numbers, upload photos or update addresses. Not does it transmit location data.
The app also doesn’t work on iPhones, although an iOS version is understood to be under development. Moscow authorities also are requiring foreign workers to submit DNA samples.
At the moment, providing DNA samples to the authorities is voluntary but legislation is making its way through parliament to make sampling mandatory for foreigners.
It comes as public fury over the housing of asylum seekers in hotels reaches boiling point. Police are braced for further anti-immigration protests after judges revoked a ban on housing asylum seekers at an Essex hotel.
The Court of Appeals judges ruled the closure of The Bell Hotel in Epping would have “obvious consequences” on the government’s duty to house asylum seekers and “incentivise” councils to seek similar legal action.
Protests were planned for Cheshunt, Bournemouth, and Chichester on Friday evening, as well as in Cardiff, Oldham, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Gloucester, Canary Wharf and Crawley across Saturday and Sunday.
Earlier this month, the UK ground to a halt as demonstrators ‘took over’ major cities to oppose “asylum hotels”. Protests and counter-protests broke out in London, Manchester and Newcastle in early August, drawing in a large number of police to manage them.
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