Ungrateful Russians apprehensive about budding biometric paradise
Mixed reviews after Schwab minion installs 1 million bio-terminals across Russia
Riley Waggaman
Sberbank CEO and Davos gospel thumper Herman Gref dreams of a happy Russia free from the shackles of cash and debit cards; a safe, convenient Russia where commerce is conducted with radiant smiles.
It’s a fantastic dream—who could imagine such a pleasantly convenient Russia? But (and just hear me out here) … could Gref’s dream one day become reality?
It already is. Slowly. Convenience-proponents might say too slowly. Yes, unfortunately, there are still many convenience-haters in Russia who have demonstrated suboptimal levels of enthusiasm for the biometric paradise that awaits them.
Let’s have a look.
In June, Sber reported that it had installed 600,000 “Pay with a Smile” bio-terminals across the country. Six months later, Russia’s largest bank (it’s not just a bank, though; Sber is “a whole universe of services for human life and businesses”) released some end-of-year bio-stats:
Sberbank calculated how many times and where Russians paid with a smile during 2024. Since the beginning of the year, the number of monthly transactions has increased 14 times: from almost 500 thousand in January 2024 to more than 6 million in December 2024 … Since the beginning of 2024, more than 2 million Russians have used the service.
Around 2 million bio-terminals are expected to be in service by the end of this year.
Sber also launched “interbank bioacquiring” (literally “биоэквайринг” in Russian) in December, which will allow “all Russian citizens who have reached the age of 18 to pay for purchases using biometrics, regardless of which bank they are clients of”:
You no longer need to carry cash, bank cards or a phone – the transaction can be completed in just a few seconds. Just select “Payment with a smile” on the terminal screen, look into the camera – the payment will be made instantly, no matter whether you are a client of Sberbank or use the services of another financial institution.
The inclusive nature of Pay with a Smile is a huge win for convenience and could help make biometrics the #1 payment method in Russia!
“The future belongs to technologies, they work for people and make their lives easier and more convenient. Bioacquiring is a very important step in this direction. If biometrics continues to develop at the same pace in the next few years, it can become the first choice payment method. Today, it is already the safest tool for non-cash payments. The service algorithms will not allow payment by photo, image on a smartphone or using a mask,” Sber executive Dmitry Sukhoverkhov told the media in December.
Pending approval from regulators, Sber also plans to turn Pay with a Smile into an ID system that will allow Russians 18-and-up to do adult things like buy cigs and booze:
source: rbc.ru
The Russian government has already approved using biometric identification when purchasing age-restricted items like… energy drinks.
source: tass.ru
(From March 1, anyone who wants to buy an energy drink in Russia will have to prove they are at least 18 years old. It is reasonable to assume that enforcement will be lax. But what other things might we assume when Russian state media triumphantly reports that citizens will be able to use biometrics to confirm their age when purchasing energy drinks? Strange times.)
While we’re on the subject of controlled substances, here’s a fun Pay with a Smile story involving vodka:
The head of the Information Technology Center of the Kaliningrad Institute for Education Development, Dmitry Kulagin, accidentally paid for a bottle of vodka for another customer with his face. The official reported this on his VKontakte page, but later deleted the post.
Kulagin said that while he was standing in line, a man in front of him tried to pay for a purchase [vodka]. The official simply smiled at the cashier at the time, but a moment later he saw a message on the terminal screen about the money being debited from his account.
As Kulagin himself explained, the terminal was configured to pay via facial biometrics. After short negotiations, the buyer returned the money for the paid goods to the official. In his publication, Kulagin joked: “It seems that the digitalization of business has acquired a malicious enemy in me.”
Kulagin later deleted the post and noted that the story attracted the attention of “unscrupulous journalists who decided to make more hype out of it.”
Say what you will about unscrupulous journalists but sometimes they craft headlines that would make Gogol grin:
source: snob.ru
But are Russians ready for so much safety and convenience?
A recent survey conducted by Komsomolskaya Pravda found that 64% of respondents will “never agree to trust their biometric data to banks”. 23% said they hadn’t decided yet if they would switch to biometric payments. 10% said they were ready to use a face-pay system, while 3% revealed they had already starting paying with their beautiful smiles.
Then there is the category of Russians who are forced to use cash or a card because the cashier has no idea how to operate Sber’s face-pay machine.
A Pikabu (Russian Reddit) user (translation: frustrated 20-something) provides this harrowing testimony:
In our tiny town terminals from SBER have started to appear, which allow payment by face.
Since I registered my face in SBER a long time ago and decided to try out advanced technologies in payment. I chose a good moment when there was no queue and here it is… one-time entry of the PIN code and PURCHASE (further payments were made without a PIN code) is completed.
Then the momentary euphoria was shattered by ABSOLUTE ignorance of this payment method among sellers and reactions ranging from surprise to aggression—WHAT are you doing, why did you turn on the camera, cancellation of the transaction by the seller and rude PAYMENT by card like everyone else.
TO THOSE WHO PLACE THESE WONDERS in STORES:
CONDUCT EXPLANATORY WORK WITH YOUR STAFF!
IT’S NOT THE SELLER’S BUSINESS TO FORBID ME FROM PAYING BY FACE IDENTIFICATION
What just happened?
Riley Waggaman is an American writer and journalist who has lived in Russia for close to a decade. He has contributed to many websites, including Anti-Empire, Russian Faith, Brownstone Institute, Unlimited Hangout, and Geopolitics & Empire. He worked for Press TV, Russia Insider, and RT before going solo. You can subscribe to his Substack here, or follow him on twitter or Telegram.
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in related news, Moscow is aggressively promoting universal genetic profiling for prospective parents to avert the birth of children likely to have serious rare hereditary disorders, because, you know, eugenics is another cornerstone of that just, equitable and humane world BRICS promises to create
The RFK jr US investigation is still going on
He has got ALL of Big Pharma (about $666,889,378) paid to every US Congress Person on Big Pharma’s side., and all The World’s Children over 2,765,032,474 (rapidly declining (cos people don’t make love much any more) on his
I have not seen the news today but hope RFK Jr gets the job
I spent a month reading
The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health (Children’s Health Defense) Hardcover – 28 April 2022by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Author)
I already knew most of it was true, especially about AIDS patients..cos I had read years before Peter Duesberg
– just as clever and probably correct as our Sasha Latypova
(Ukraine) and our Dr. Mike Yeadon about covid jabs
“Long considered a contrarian by his scientific colleagues,[6] Duesberg began to gain public notoriety with a March 1987 article in Cancer Research entitled “Retroviruses as Carcinogens and Pathogens: Expectations and Reality”.[7] In this and subsequent writings, Duesberg proposed his hypothesis that AIDS is caused by long-term consumption of recreational drugs or antiretroviral drugs, and that the retrovirus known as ‘HIV’ is a harmless passenger virus. In contrast, the scientific consensus is that HIV infection causes AIDS;[8
Pay with your most silly happy smile 🙃 .
I have to confess, I have always like Riley Waggerman, its the way he writes, not just the content. He announces himself – “I am the new Tea-boy at RT as if he is the new Caitline Johnston She got banned from Huffington Post – how bad can that be?) and then she promoted herself from Sydney – I am even liked her American Boyfriend
Riley, never even mentioned it was Really Cold in Moscow, and then for a laugh, moved to Eastern Siberia – or somewhere where it was even colder than the USA)
He said it is just the same in Russia as it was in the USA – They are Jabbing Everyone…
I don’t know if he speaks Russian, but I really like Americans like him…cos it takes a lot off courage to go that. Never quite got the Edward Salvsquat – his other id, but that may have been useful if the CIA, FSB or anyone arrested him for being a spy?? Don’t be completely ridiculous. I am the tea-Boy – Journalist – work for Russia Today.
Meanwhile, I who haven’t been to Russia nor the USA, have spent this afterftoon sticking Ganesh back together. The cat broke its arm off (We have been to India and Thailand)
“IT’S NOT THE SELLER’S BUSINESS TO FORBID ME FROM PAYING BY FACE IDENTIFICATION”
I never have this problem, but my wife can never get through passport control. I tell her- can you please stop laughing you silly cow – which makes her laugh more, and enormous queue behind coming back to the UK
Having people smile to be “rewarded” their purchase is a dog-trick training scheme. We are being converted from autonomous consensual cooperative humans to money-bearing pets, like a money-tree. The unfortunate ongoing peer consensus is to trust “our leaders”. I was way past trusting when 18, but for some reason persisted that they could be influenced until 2004. Kerry handed the election to Bush for the Dim’s second straight time. Fool me once, fool me twice, eh… Commoner-humans are just too forgiving and trusting by nature. The top 5% are predator-humans, living in a false reality selfishness. We are getting wise to them, many of us waiting for the rest to get on board. Ugh.
At least Mr. Waggaman didn’t use this biometric thing to prove “they’re all in it together.” Of course, in the sense that ALL nations try to compete at being the most advanced, they are indeed “all in it together.” If Russia wants to win the booby prize for Best Citizen Enslavement, that doesn’t mean Putin et al are stooges of the WEF.
China is running rings around the US in the AI business – and boy are the Silicon Valley DARPA funded geniuses ticked off. And yet, AI is the ultimate monstrosity, the gravest danger facing humanity. But it’s been declared an advancement, so everyone wants to be Numero Uno AI Drone.
If humanity determines that Neapolitan shit is the be all and end all, let the competition begin. They’re all shitting together.
Black aerosol spray should take care of all these cameras…
that is why you need to show id nowadays for purchases of paint canisters
And still this “Inquiry” pushes ahead with the premise that the “vaccines” saved millions and that adverse reactions were extremely rare. It’s utter nonsense and a complete waste of time and money.
the fact that, in the context of a pandemic where the public were being ordered to stay at home the only way to submit the relevant forms was to physically print and post them…).
The entire purpose of the enquiry is to conclude that they didn’t lock us down enough, so they can go for it harder next time. It’s predetermined. All evidence against this will be disregarded.
It’s just so predictable.
It’s a cover up as usual , never an inquiry..
Another pay day for the legal profession and protection for the criminals in suits..
It works: we get it here = win.
It doesn’t work: Putin and Russians are evil and hate our “freedom” and we must be ready for war against them = win.
A typical win/win constructed event.
It doesn’t matter if the seller likes you, wants to sell to you, would benefit from selling to you.
It does not matter if you are solvent.
Only Sberbank and their oligarch handlers will count in approving/denying such transactions.
Wanted for stealing a candy bar, pay w/a future smile.
https://winteroakpress.wordpress.com/wp content/uploads/2021/07/transhumanism8-1.jpg
‘So here’s my proposal:
that we say ‘fuck that’ –
and take a stand.
A stand for simplicity.
A stand for the truth beyond our truths:
that you and I, both of us, admit
neither of us knows.
I propose a revolutionary pilgrimage
back to each other
back to ourselves in each other.’
More here:
https://winteroak.org.uk/2025/01/29/for-localism-and-the-love-of-humanity/
Pic didn’t work.
You can find it on the Winter Oak site.
https://youtu.be/dAoaVU3-ve0?si=_np_T0XBAYRxXWIY
Even Wikipedia has to concede that Is lam was not so peaceful, but what would now be called genocide was labeled “riots”. Persecution of Bengali Hindus,before and after Pakistani Independence
Just in the 1950 “riots” more people died than in the hole Gaza riots saga now in total.
Uncomfortable Truth about Mo’s paradise.
Using the split up of India into Hindu and Muslim nations should not be used to characterize either religion. A million people died in the split, as many Muslims as Hindus. It was a terrible chapter in the turbulent history of that region. And yet, both religions claim to be essentially peaceful.
The fault is neither Hindu nor Muslim but human.
The subcontinent split in 1947. !950 is 3 years later.
Gandhi preached non violence thanks to his Christian friends. If you know Hinduism you the know the Mahabharata, a (just) war story. But full tolerance towards others IF they are tolerant too.
Islam is non stop 7th century war party till today, written dozens of times in their K*ran, just or unjust – anyone disagreeing is toast.
Nazis, the Huns etc.were humans too.
What does this have to do with Sberbank or Russian biometric payment?
Well someone has to say it.
The same people who bought into and have since maintained the “pandemic but not really” narrative are presently shitting the bed again on the digital id enslavement and frothing at the mouth pro or against or neutral on the old lullaby trump, he said she said, exposed and etc
Makes sense, WEF fighting WEF in Ukraine – only for woke minds.
The State is Bad
“..A recent survey conducted by Komsomolskaya Pravda found that 64% of respondents will “never agree to trust their biometric data to banks”. 23% said they hadn’t decided yet if they would switch to biometric payments. 10% said they were ready to use a face-pay system, while 3% revealed they had already starting paying with their beautiful smiles…”
The survey was conducted among subscribers of the site KP.RU on the social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, as well as in Telegram and Viber messengers. 6.1 thousand people took part in the study.
KP.RU: 10% of Russians surveyed are ready to use biometrics to pay for purchases
Approximately 70 % of the Russian Federation is over the age of 18.
Russia, OH Population by Age – 2024 Update | Neilsberg
Population of the Russian Federation is approximately 144,000,000 +
Russia Population (2025) – Worldometer
Smile,
Genesis, surely the (dead) king of your trans, used to live with someone at college who squatted with Gen in Hackney..
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107859573867/
Sorry, the official ‘State is Bad’, best song ever..
It could be worse.
You could be going home (?):
https://www.winterwatch.net/2025/01/this-is-what-palestinians-are-returning-to/
“Look at us, look at us!”
“We’ve got the latest techno!”
“Russia is on the cutting edge!”
(Said the Bear as it stumbled towards the cliff).
I know exactly which articles are authored by Waggaman, just from the title. A useful shortcut so I can give them a wide berth…
Riley gives ‘birth’ to em and you give em wide berth.
Now that’s what I call a jolly juxtaposition.
I cannot understand the purpose of these articles. Wide berth, as well
Pay per smile?
I’ll save lots of money then.
As long as you keep laughing at the bastards, you’ll be bonza.
anyway Russians never smile, the project is doomed
I might sign up for Pay With Your Middle Finger
at least it would provide me with a little thrill of cathartic symbolic defiance during the POS transaction
500 billion for a new AI infrastructure
and Davos talk of zioDON
and this lot have done a shill and said look at Russia.>?????????????????
what the fuck offgrrr, where is the articles about the last week of Trump announcement
if the left or labour or new zealand Oz or Stamer you would of done what dnny has done you would of written 9 articles by now of what has just happened.
500 billion for a new AI infrastructure
500 billion for a new AI infrastructure
500 billion for a new AI infrastructure
od and jones and co all say LOOK at the chicons or russia.
Pure shilling
as you cant upset the christian$ con$eravative replitan $hejkal donation stream.
I asked ChatGPT to
“Write a riposte to the following … [the article]”.
It disobeyed. Instead churning out a response in full agreement. Disobedient AI. Smack on the hand. Whatever happened to the laws of robotics? …
ChatGPT:
Ah, the audacity of the so-called “biometric paradise” enthusiasts! While Herman Gref and his ilk paint a rosy picture of a Russia liberated from cash and cards, it seems the reality is more akin to a dystopian farce than the utopia they envision. Let’s peel back the glossy veneer of this “Pay with a Smile” initiative and expose the cracks beneath.
First, the claim that biometrics will usher in a new era of safety and convenience is laughably optimistic. Sure, transactions may be quick, but at what cost? The idea that a mere smile could substitute for the security of a PIN or signature is a gamble that many Russians are understandably hesitant to take. After all, the survey you cite reveals that a staggering 64% of respondents are unwilling to trust their biometric data to banks. That’s not just a lack of enthusiasm; it’s a resounding rejection of a system that many perceive as an intrusion into their privacy.
And let’s talk about the implementation—or lack thereof. The story of Dmitry Kulagin inadvertently buying vodka for a stranger with his face is more than just a comical anecdote; it epitomizes the chaos and confusion surrounding this new technology. Imagine the horror of smiling at a terminal only to find your hard-earned cash whisked away to fund someone else’s night out! If Gref’s dream is to create a frictionless payment experience, the reality is that many Russians are encountering nothing but friction—confused cashiers and malfunctioning systems that leave them scrambling for their wallets.
Furthermore, the notion that this biometric system will seamlessly integrate into everyday life is, frankly, a fairy tale. The reality is that many Russians are still grappling with the basics of digital transactions. As the Pikabu user lamented, there’s a distinct lack of training for staff on how to operate these new terminals. For every techno-optimist, there’s a bewildered cashier who doesn’t know the difference between a payment by smile and a payment by card. If Gref wants to create a truly inclusive system, he might want to start by ensuring that the humans operating it are adequately prepared.
Then there’s the question of enforcement. Will the biometric ID system truly prevent underage purchases, or will it simply add another layer of bureaucracy that does little to change the status quo? If the government is serious about regulating the sale of age-restricted items, they would do well to focus on enforcement rather than relying on a system that could easily be bypassed or ignored.
Ultimately, the dream of a biometric utopia may be just that—a dream. While the allure of convenience is undeniable, the apprehension of the Russian populace reflects a deeper concern: that in the quest for a “happy Russia,” we might be sacrificing autonomy for the sake of technological advancement. Perhaps, instead of pushing for a smile, we should be asking for a little more scrutiny and a lot less haste. After all, convenience should never come at the expense of trust and security.
The totalitarianism is designedly inefficient. Thesis must have its antithesis….
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