AI Passport Control System 'Sapsan' Deployed in Major Russian Airports

AI is speeding up passport control at Russian airports, slashing wait times to under a minute and handling up to 2,000 travelers per hour.

Two major Russian airports — Vnukovo in Moscow and Koltsovo in Yekaterinburg — have deployed a new passport control system called Sapsan. Powered by artificial intelligence, the system is designed to verify documents rapidly and accurately.

Developed by the Russian tech firm Smart Engines, the system requires travelers to scan their biometric passports. In less than a minute, it verifies both the data and the document’s authenticity. A previous installation at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport demonstrated the system’s ability to process up to 2,000 passengers per hour.

Sapsan integrates two neural networks: GreenOCR handles text recognition and database matching, while another system dubbed Sherlock scans documents in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light to detect security features such as holograms. The setup is robust enough to detect altered photos, fakes, and even high-end deepfakes.

Russia’s airport infrastructure has been undergoing rapid IT upgrades also. In Gelendzhik, for example, authorities built a new digital framework for the recently opened airport and addressed persistent issues with radio signal quality