press rank #162 · ~$800/mo

Can you live unwatched in Russia?

Facial recognition on the metro, wartime speech laws.

Share on X

The privacy scorecard

State surveillance1/5
Facial recognition1/5
No national ID1/5
Data-protection law1/5
Encryption1/5
VPN freedom1/5
Democracy1/5
Free expression1/5
Cash still works4/5
Financial privacy2/5
Crypto freedom2/5
Easy to stay3/5
Off-grid living4/5
25 cameras / 1,000 people press rank #162 ~$800/mo national average

Childhood vaccines: recommended, never required

Russia writes the right to refuse into the law, and the right to exclude during an epidemic right next to it.

If you skip them: Nothing routine. During an outbreak an unvaccinated child can be kept out of school or nursery.

Exemptions: A written refusal is a right under federal law 157-FZ.

Source: Federal law 157-FZ, plus Georgetown AMP EID, survey of national legislation, 2024

Legal & financial exposure

Facts about the law, not a privacy score: whether each one helps or hurts depends on what you are trying to do.

Reports your account balances abroad (CRS)

Extradition treaty with the US

ID required to buy a SIM card

Crypto mining is a recognised industry here

Legalised nationally in 2024, with dedicated mining regulation.

3 of 7 signals are unverified for this country: not shown, rather than guessed.

34 real places in Russia

Facial recognition, Bitcoin friendliness and cost vary by city even inside the same country.

Moscow

~$800/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Saint Petersburg

~$800/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Novosibirsk

~$716/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Yekaterinburg

~$716/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Kazan

~$700/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Nizhny Novgorod

~$700/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Chelyabinsk

~$716/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Omsk

~$716/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Rostov-on-Don

~$806/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Ufa

~$716/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Krasnoyarsk

~$800/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Krasnodar

~$700/mo! facial recognition present₿ crypto 2/5

Weigh Russia against your own threat model

Surveillance, speech, money: filter thousands of real places across every country and see where Russia actually ranks.

Browse every place

Not just privacy?

Arcadia matches the same real places against how you actually want to live: weather, cost, healthcare, schools, internet.

Find where to live on Arcadia

Country-level estimates for orientation, not legal advice. Surveillance law changes fast: verify anything you would act on.