Race-detecting cameras designed to identify people's racial and ethnic affiliation have been launched in Saint Petersburg. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
Igor Nikonov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Informatization and Communications, announced this. According to him, these cameras help identify groups located in certain areas and serve as a basis for law enforcement agencies to make appropriate decisions.
Nikonov emphasized that the system is specifically aimed at identifying ethnic affiliation, allowing the police to monitor areas with migrant populations and "rubber" apartments. Currently, about 50,000 cameras have this function, but the results are not yet clear.
Crime statistics will be determined by the end of the year. The system can identify six races and ethnic groups: Caucasian, East Asian, Central Asian, Europeans, Asians, and individuals belonging to the Negroid race.
These cameras are considered an important tool for monitoring and analyzing ethnic relations among the city's population. It is worth noting that the installation of such cameras in Saint Petersburg began in February 2025.
Oleg Kapitanov, head of the city's Interethnic Relations Committee, stated that eight thousand street cameras are planned to be equipped with the "identification of a person's ethnic affiliation" function. The introduction of this new technology is expected to play an important role in making significant decisions against the backdrop of increasing migration and the complexity of ethnic relations in recent years.
