MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. Every sixth out of ten respondents polled by the All-Russia Fund for Studies of Public Opinion (VTSIOM) said that that fingerprints should be included in the biometric data of foreign passports of Russian citizens.
Twenty-five percent of the respondents polled by VTSIOM said their attitude to the finger prints was negative; twenty percent were undecided.
Young people are more inclined to acknowledge the advantages of finger prints included in the biometric data, which was confirmed by 72% of respondents aged 18-24.
Twenty percent of the respondents fear possible inconveniences or some other negative consequences. Most of the opponents were respondents with poor education (45%), supporters of the Communist party (44%) and people of advanced age (39%).
At present, approximately 28% of Russian citizens own foreign travel passports. Most of them are young people aged 25-34 (36%), which is almost double the number of owners of foreign passports beyond 60 years old (15%).
Twenty-three percent of the respondents polled said they would apply for foreign passports in future, including nine percent, who are planning to do that by the year's end, and 14%, who said they would apply in the next five years. But, 48% of the respondents polled said they do not need foreign passports.
The VTSIOM poll was conducted in 45 members of the Russian Federation where 1,600 respondents were interviewed. A statistical error margin was no more than 3.5%
In future the necessary biometric data might include fingerprints as obligatory to get a Schengen visa.