Supplies of components for facial recognition systems used to suppress protests continued to Russia

Chips from Nvidia and Intel, which are used in Moscow's facial recognition systems, continued to be shipped to Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine and despite the sanctions imposed after that. Reuters writes about this in its investigation.

Details. According to the government procurement website, the Moscow face recognition system uses software from four companies - the Luna platform from VisionLabs, FindFace from NtechLab, FaceSDK from Tevian, and Kipod from the Belarusian company Synesis.

• At least three out of four companies (VisionLabs, NtechLab and Synesis) use chips from American corporations Nvidia and Intel, according to publications on their websites. For example, a document that appeared on the Intel website in October last year says that the Belarusian Synesis tested Intel technologies in 2019 and used their processors to improve the performance of the Kipod program intended "for law enforcement."
• The August interview of the founder of VisionLabs Alexander Khanin (in December 2021 he sold his stake to MTS) can speak about how important American technologies are for face recognition systems. In an interview with RBC, he admitted that "there is no replacement for Nvidia cards."
• Russian customs documents seen by Reuters show that at least 129 shipments of Nvidia products arrived in Russia after the start of the war (April 1 to October 31, 2022). From the documents it follows that at least 57 batches of GPUs were delivered to Russia.
• Deliveries of Intel chips also continue. As previously reported by Reuters, from April 1 to October 31 last year, Intel products worth at least $457 million arrived in Russia.
• The sanctions imposed against Russia do not allow the supply of these products to Russia. However, there is no evidence that Nvidia or Intel violated the sanctions, writes Reuters. Representatives of the companies said they suspended all deliveries to Russia after the start of the war. In all cases, the chips came to Russia through intermediaries.
• In addition, as Reuters found out, the Belarusian and Russian companies (the publication does not specify which Russian company) participated in the American program for testing face recognition systems, which was carried out by the US Department of Commerce. And one of the firms even received a prize of $40,000 from the US intelligence unit.

Context. Face recognition technology in Moscow is being used to identify protesters and to search for men to be mobilized, wrote OVD-Info and Roskomsvoboda in a joint report. The Reuters investigation says the system was also used against those protesting the war in Ukraine. Lawyers interviewed by Reuters said the use of facial recognition against activists in Moscow likely constitutes a violation of human rights.

• After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United States and the European Union imposed restrictions on the supply of microchips to Russia. In early December, the European Commission proposed to criminalize the violation of the sanctions regime, including the introduction of criminal liability for the supply of goods whose trade with Russia is prohibited or restricted.
• Of the four companies whose technologies are used in the capital's facial recognition system, only one is under sanctions. Synesis is listed by the US, EU and UK for its role in suppressing pro-democracy movements in Belarus and Russia.
• Tevian was founded by employees of Moscow State University, NtechLab has been partly owned by Rostec since 2018, VisionLabs owns MTS.