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Belarus tightens security along border with Ukraine

Chairman of the Belarusian State Border Committee Leonid Maltsev says police and interior troops had been used to beef up border security

© ITAR-TASS/Dmitry Rogulin

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MINSK, April 02. /ITAR-TASS/. The situation on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border remained calm, but Belarus had tightened security along the border, the chairman of the Belarusian State Border Committee, Leonid Maltsev, said on Wednesday.

“No border crossing points have been closed, they operate in a routine mode,” he said. Maltsev said police and interior troops had been used to beef up border security. He also said the passenger and transport flows had thinned a bit on the border with Ukraine. “A few border violation incidents have been fixed, and trespassers have been detained,” he told ITAR-TASS.

The committee chairman also expressed hope that the developments in Ukraine would not influence the process of Belarus-Ukraine border demarcation. “We began the work in the autumn of 2013,” he said, adding that the process to demarcate 1,084 kilometers of the border would take 7 to 10 years.

“Work proceeds routinely, there are no breaks and I hope there won’t be any,” Maltsev added.

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