Russian consulates abroad have suspended the acceptance of documents for biometric passports for a period of 10 years.
The website of the Consular Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the suspension occurred "for technical reasons." No dates have been announced for the reopening of documents.
A likely reason for the suspension could be a shortage of chips used in biometric passports. So, in June, the Russian government froze the project for issuing digital internal passports. According to Forbes sources, this happened precisely because of the shortage of chips and plastic, which arose due to sanctions imposed on Russia due to the war in Ukraine.
