Moscow, July 22 (RIA Novosti) - Microchips for Russian biometric passports should be made domestically, an Industries & Energy Ministry spokesperson said Friday.
This will help protect information and technologies from possible leaks, while also boosting the country's radio-electronic industry, he said.
At the initial stage, Russian defense sector companies would assemble the microchips from imported crystals, the source said. Extra-budgetary funds to be attracted in the process will enable these companies to upgrade their facilities so that the full cycle of microchip production could be covered domestically.
The spokesman said a number of Russian electronics majors had already expressed interest in getting involved in the biometric passport project. He added that the contacts would be distributed on a competitive basis.
The government hopes it will be able to tackle all major technical problems in preparing biometric passports before the end of 2006, so that they could be introduced in Russia concurrently with the EU's transition to biometric ID cards.
