Employees of Russia’s security services are unable to obtain the official QR codes necessary for dining out in Moscow under current coronavirus restrictions, a Federal Protection Service (FSO) source said Thursday.
All Moscow restaurants and cafes now require patrons to present a QR code proving their vaccination, recent recovery from Covid-19 or negative PCR test result in order to dine indoors. The QR codes are generated by the city’s official portal using data stored in the city medical database.
An FSO employee in Moscow who spoke to The Moscow Times on condition of anonymity confirmed that its members are unable to use the city’s QR code system.
“It’s true. They told us it will be fixed this week or early next week. We have all been vaccinated so it would be good to get the code,” the employee said.
Because some Federal Security Service (FSB) and Federal Protection Service (FSO) polyclinics are not connected to the city medical database, employees who were vaccinated in these clinics are unable to get a QR code, the RBC news website reported earlier Thursday.
Russia in December passed a law banning the dissemination of information about security and law enforcement members in an effort to clamp down on data leaks that have fueled several high-profile investigative reports.
Foreign citizens including diplomats who were vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine or recovered from the virus have also reported difficulty obtaining their QR codes since the system went into effect Monday.
