Lukashenko approved decisions on state border protection in 2023
The Head of State has today approved decisions on state border protection in 2023. As explained by the Chairman of the State Border Committee, Anatoly Lappo, these are two separate documents: one concerns the border service bodies, and the other envisages border protection in airspace with help of the Armed Forces
“The President has been reported today on the results of border protection last year, with focus on the features of 2022,” Mr. Lappo said. “Never before in the history of sovereign Belarus we have guarded the state border with a country which has military hostiles on its territory. This also leaves its mark. We had to rebuild the border guard in the southern direction in all respects.”
According to the State Border Committee’s Chairman, all the instructions given by the Head of State to the border service bodies in 2022 have been fulfilled, “No less important tasks have been set for this year. I think we will fulfil them with the available forces and means, while ensuring reliable border protection.”
Mr. Lappo also informed on the current migration situation at the border. According to the State Border Committee’s statistics, the border service agencies carried out a set of measures last year to stabilise the migration situation on the border with the neighbouring EU states, to prevent illegal displacement of violators from their territory to Belarus. As a result, more than 3,800 attempts of illegal displacement of groups of foreigners – totalling 31,000+ persons – from the neighbouring EU states to Belarus were stopped. Since the beginning of the migration crisis (from August 2021 to January 23rd, 2023), seventeen dead refugees have been found in the immediate vicinity of the border.
“It is necessary not to destroy people’s ‘nests’ and not to promise them everything under the sun. There will be fewer of these problems then,” Mr. Lappo stressed.
The State Border Committee also informed that, in 2022, the number of detained border violators increased by 51 percent (from 318 to 480 persons), while the total number of violators of the state border legislation rose by 10 percent (from 1,857 to 2,043 persons). In addition, a significant increase in the volume of illicit trafficking of drugs across the border was registered; in 2022, more than 167kg were seized. As noted by Mr. Lappo, the 47-fold increase against the figures of 2021 was due to the lifting of COVID-related restrictions.
“People began to travel more often. Not all of them have documents. There are law-abiding citizens, and there are those who put themselves above the law. We are detaining them. We have a single task: to ensure reliable protection of the state border and the access of law-abiding citizens to Belarus, also becoming a reliable shield against those who come to us with bad intentions,” the Chairman of the State Border Committee explained.
