Kremlin to launch e-card to help Russians

MOSCOW, RUSSIA: The Kremlin announced plans on Monday to launch an electronic card next year to help Russians do anything from paying bills to making doctors' appointments despite industry concerns that the data would not be safe.

Costing more than $5 billion over five years, the card would "radically elevate the digital culture in our country" and be given to all citizens, President Dmitry Medvedev said. It was not immediately clear whether the e-card would be mandatory.

Medvedev has vowed to use technology to diversify Russia's $1.5 trillion economy from oil and gas revenues since he was steered into the Kremlin in 2008 by his mentor, then president and now prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev has also promised to fight endemic corruption by providing electronic access to state services for citizens, bypassing officials.

"The results of this project will have a pivotal effect on people's lives, on the interaction between the citizen and the state," Medvedev told a government meeting on modernisation, adding that the e-card would be launched in January 2012.

He said thousands of terminals would be installed across Russia over the next five years, which would be used to deal with bureaucratic services such as paying taxes and other bills.

Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina said the project would cost between 150 and 170 billion roubles ($5.19-5.88 billion) and be funded by a consortium of three Russian banks, led by state major Sberbank.

But critics said the state-run system could be hacked and millions of people's data could be at risk.

"We have legislation protecting personal data, but the state bodies handling information do not do their jobs properly to keep it safe," said Boris Kim, an executive at the National Association of Electronic Trade, an industry group.

"Today you can find any personal records you need, sold in street markets ... The universal e-card serves more to identify an individual's relations with the state, rather than be used as a payment card," Kim told Reuters.

A poll released on Monday by the independent Levada centre showed that 40 percent of Russians said they did not use a credit or debit card, and were not planning to get one, which may show that people are not yet ready for such a card