Mikhail Tyurkin, the deputy director of the Russian Federal Migration Service said.

They identify the personality of a Russian citizen and contain an electronic chip carrying all information about him or her.

Tyurkin took part in a two-day seminar on security of travel documents.

The gathering was organized in Vienna by an OSCE unit designed to fight terrorism.

At present, Russia manufactures more than 50,000 passports of a new generation that are issued to Russian citizens by the head offices of the Federal Migration Service, the Russian Foreign Ministry, in the Kaliningrad region as well as by Russia's diplomatic representations and consular institutions in Germany and Lithuania, Tyurkin went on to say.

He noted that transition to a new system would take place in several stages.

"Before the year's end we are planning to equip 250 out of a thousand offices of the Federal Migration Service with the necessary equipment. This will held it to issue more than a million new passports in 2008. All the offices will be retooled by late 2009," Tyurkin explained.

The Federal Migration Service hasn't been assigned with the task to replace all the existing passports into new ones.

Biometric passports are issued to citizens only on their wish.

The Russian government is going to pay special attention to the reliability and safety of biometric passports as well as to the system of their design and preparation. - DDNEWS India