The Russian government will soon change residence registration rules to enable citizens to register via the Internet, in a move to simplify the country's hefty bureaucratic procedures, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
"A directive has been issued to change the permanent and temporary residence registration procedure for Russian citizens," Putin said. "These changes include the use of the Internet as a registration option."
Russians over 14 currently have to notify the federal migration agencies in person if they move to another place in the country where they intend to stay for more than 90 days. However, the time-consuming procedure is largely ignored, with most citizens preferring to pay a small fine or bribe if they get caught out.
The new regulations are part of the 'e-government' federal program, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said.
Under the program, all state services in Russia are to be made available in electronic form by 2015.
The prime minister did not specify when the new rules would take effect or whether citizens will still have to go to a federal migration agency to obtain formal stamps in their passports.
Russia's complicated registration procedure is, like much of the country's bureaucracy, a leftover from the Soviet Union, when citizens were required to obtain permission to live in a certain place.
MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Stelliferovsky)
