KIEV, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine has equipped all 157 of its border crossing checkpoints with biometric identification systems, the State Border Guard Service said in a statement on Friday.
A total of 1,200 new workplaces for border guards were set up on Ukrainian frontier checkpoints and more than 400 automated workplaces were equipped with fingerprint scanners, the statement said.
So far, more than 57,000 foreigners, including 42,000 Russian citizens, have crossed the Ukrainian border under the new biometric control procedure, it said.
On Jan. 1, Ukraine has begun to gather biometric data from foreigners at the country's border control points.
Under this system, Ukrainian border guards collect fingerprints from international travelers entering Ukraine and check their passports against several databases, including the database of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
The checks are compulsory for citizens from 71 countries in Ukraine's list of the states with a high migration risk, but only selectively for other travelers.
Leaders of foreign states, members of parliamentary and government delegations, children, cruise tourists, members of vehicle crew, diplomatic staff and officials of international organizations are exempted from checks, said the statement.
Last year, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree to start collecting the biometric data of foreigners entering the country in order to strengthen Ukraine's national security.
The decree was issued at the request of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, which initially proposed to introduce biometric controls for Russians entering Ukraine without a visa.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that the new system may harm people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
Relations between Kiev and Moscow have soured since 2014 when Crimea joined Russia following a referendum, but Ukraine said the peninsula was illegally annexed by Russia.
