1/ The Russian government has created a new unified database listing all of those eligible for military service, to make it easier to mobilise people, better able to screen out those with exemptions and catch 'evaders' at border checkpoints and via facial recognition cameras…..
5/ According to the journalists, the new database contains "comprehensive data on those liable for military service. Where they live, what phone numbers and email they have, what property they own, what state of health they are in."….
16/. In addition, it's intended to help track down so-called 'evaders' – those who are trying to avoid military service. The database includes mobile phone numbers and photographs.
17/ This will enable 'evaders' to be tracked down by geolocating their mobile phone signals, as well as enabling the authorities to use CCTV cameras with facial recognition systems to track down those trying to evade mobilisation.
18/ The system is also intended to be used to block people fleeing the country, following the departure of an estimated 500,000 to 1 million people last year. Many of those who fled were able to take advantage of bureaucratic inefficiencies, as the journalists report….
22/ The system is now being adjusted and, if necessary, all information will be available immediately to border guards, says a source at the security service of a Moscow airport."…
23/ While all of this doesn't necessarily mean that another wave of mobilisation is imminent, it's likely to significantly improve the Russian government's ability to do it more quickly and efficiently, with less evasion and less controversy from the wrong people being mobilised.
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