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Kiev pledges $37 million for Russian border fortifications

Work on the project began in September last year

© Konstantin Cherginsky/TASS

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KIEV, March 18. /TASS/. Ukraine's government will allocate around $37 million to build fortifications at the country's eastern border with Russia, Premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk told cabinet colleagues on Wednesday - structures which President Petro Poroshenko told broadcaster Channel One earlier in the month would be a "powerful, deeply echeloned system".

"Government will, without delay, decide to allocate 860 million hryvnias (around $37 million) from the reserve fund for the construction of fortifications," said Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, instructing the state border service to build engineering installations.

"The process is under way, but it’s rather slow," he said. "It’s good that we’ve cut the price by half, now the work can be accelerated on both the safety line and the border between Russia and Ukraine," Yatsenyuk said.

Work on the project rated high-priority began in September last year. Military officials say Kiev plans two defense lines to "prevent enemy penetration into Ukrainian territory".

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