Russia’s Interior Ministry is to spend 5.1 million rubles ($77,000) on a non-lethal psychoacoustic system used to disperse demonstrations, the public procurement portal announced on their official site Monday.
When in action, the device sends noises designed to cause discomfort to those in the immediate vicinity. Similar systems were used extensively during the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri.
“Preparations for the State Duma elections and potential protests after large-scale vote falsification have begun,” said Anti-Corruption Foundation Lawyer Lyubov Sobol in a Facebook post.
Called Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), the device can be used up to 60 meters away from a central control point and can affect the central nervous system of large groups of people.
Russian orders for RGS 50M special grenade launchers, which are often used during large scale riots in correctional facilities, also rose fivefold in 2015.
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