Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 22 January (BelTA) – Belarus is busy creating a smart state border, BelTA learned from Chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus Anatoly Lappo after he delivered his report to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 22 January.

The chief of the Belarusian border service underscored that in a bid to improve the protection of the state border they focus on smart and modern technologies, which allow keeping an eye on the situation remotely while utilizing less resources than the effort required in the past. “Many violations are detected remotely. A smart border is the goal we intend to achieve in the future,” he said.

In his words, the head of state was informed about the fulfillment of the tasks the Belarusian border service was supposed to accomplish in 2017. “We’ve done all the tasks. As for statistics, we’ve apprehended 20% more state border trespassers. Particularly migrants on their way to the European Union. If we talk about narcotic substances, the figure has increased by 35 times in comparison with 2016,” said the official.

Speaking about cooperation with neighboring countries in protecting the state border, Anatoly Lappo noted that they had signed a program with Russia on accomplishing the state border for a period of five years. Among other things the program provides for building security lines and border guard stations. He pointed out it is necessary to step up cooperation with partners from the European Union in this sphere. “We should step up this work so that our partners knew we protect their borders, too. Illegal migrants don’t stay in Belarus, they travel to Eastern Europe. We should fight this evil together,” stated Anatoly Lappo.

“The president has outlined tasks regarding development priorities of the state border service this year. We will have to step up border security in the south, build new engineering structures, and develop the infrastructure. Preventing a decrease in state security at the Belarusian border is the most important thing,” said the chairman of the State Border Committee of Belarus.

Anatoly Lappo stressed that Belarus always welcomes law-abiding travelers at border checkpoints. For instance, more state border service personnel are now on duty at the Minsk National Airport. Border checkpoints are gradually upgraded. Their infrastructure and throughput capacity get better and better.