Russia’s surveillance state still doesn’t match China's. But Putin is racing to catch up.

Spreading fear and deterring activism may be just the point for authorities, Darbinyan said. “If somebody knows that he or she can be tracked down, they may change their behavior,” he said. “They may decide not to go to a rally, not to participate in a protest or maybe even not to go to the mosque for prayer, because they know that they can be tracked down.” On Jan. 31, activist Kamil Galeyev was detained at his home three hours before a major protest started. The detention, he said, was based on photos of him through facial recognition from a Jan. 23 demonstration. He was jailed for 10 days. Another activist, Mikhail Shulman, was picked up inside the Metro on Jan. 31 through facial recognition. It made him feel as if he lived in a “digital concentration camp,” he wrote in an article on Roskomsvoboda’s website.