Page 13 - RusRPTApr21

Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW) which allows the White House to impose new harsh measures by fiat.
Those penalties were drawn up in coordination with and mirrored those imposed by the European Union in February that were also considered to be light and targeted only four officials directly involved with the jailing of Navalny.
The Bloomberg report had an immediate effect on asset prices as Russian bonds ended a four-day rally that began after the US light sanctions announcement, lifting the yield 11 basis points to 6.68% in March 5 trading. The ruble traded little changed at RUB74.69 per dollar after slipping 1% the day before. Economists say the ruble is currently undervalued by 7%-9% due largely to geopolitical risks.
The Biden is expected to play by the CBW rule book, which lays out various procedures and punishments the government has to follow, and follow-up with a second, more extensive round of sanctions unless Russia meets certain conditions, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
Russia must now offer assurances it will refrain from the use of chemical weapons and, more problematically, allow inspections of suspected chemical weapons sites.
2.4 Sberbank and X5 team up for face recognition payment tech
X5 Retail Group, Russia’s largest food retailer, has partnered with Sber and Visa to launch an innovative `pay with a glance’ service at self-service checkout terminals in X5 supermarkets and proximity stores.
Already available at 52 Perekrestok supermarkets, this service uses biometric identification based on X5's innovation lab technology and VisionLabs solutions. It is set to become available at 150 Perekrestok supermarkets by the end of March, with several of Moscow’s Pyaterochka proximity stores following suit in April.
The exact schedule for further scaling and implementation will depend on the results of this first stage of the project, which was announced today. In total, biometric payment technology may be expanded to some 3,000 X5 stores by the end of 2021.
It just takes a few seconds to ‘pay with a glance’, as shoppers do not need to use their bank card or a smartphone to complete the purchase. After scanning their shopping at an X5 self-service checkout, built in-house, customers can select an option to ‘pay with a glance’, take off their mask for a second and look into the camera.
The basic solution uses a 3D camera with high detection accuracy and depth capture, allowing for easy and quick facial recognition that takes into account a person's height and changes in appearance. The high-resolution camera ensures security and prevents spoofing.
13 RUSSIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com