This article gets at interesting cost-benefit trade-offs in how countries go about regulating entry into their territory.
Should a country require a traveler to obtain a visa prior to undertaking their journey?
Should a country issue visas at ports of entry?
Should a country treat the citizens of other countries the same or treat the citizens of different countries differently?
Should they require a biometric?
If so, which modality makes the most sense?
The answers to these questions flow from a number of characteristics of the visa issuing country such as wealth, number of foreign visitors, quality of diplomatic corps, reach of diplomatic corps, attractiveness for immigrants, regional stability, etc.
Many countries avoid this entire, admittedly complicated, calculation and opt for straight up reciprocity: I'll treat your applicants exactly the same as you treat mine. This makes for a useful bargaining framework if the two countries are the same in many of the above respects, but it often gets applied in other circumstances.
Russia seems to be going through the cost benefit calculation rather than opting for knee-jerk reciprocity.
The embassies of the United States and Britain in Moscow both told The Moscow Times that they had no specific information about biometric visas to Russia being an imminent requirement for their citizens.
“But there is a global move in this direction because it makes travel safer for everyone,” British Embassy spokesman James Barbour said.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said: “The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has not been informed by the Russian government of any plans to implement biometric Russian visas for Americans.”
Applicants for Russian visas at the moment do not need to submit biometric details — however, every applicant for British and American visas the world over, including Russian citizens, must provide biometric data in order for their visa application to be processed.
