Borders should be open and accessible – Putin
- The border should be open and accessible for all law-abiding people, and barriers must not be put up against legitimate business transactions, cross-border cooperation or the realization of Russia’s vast transit potential, says Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Russia allocates 134 billion rubles for improving the infrastructure of the Russian state border until 2020. A special state program has been established to implement plans for improvements.
At a meeting in Sochi on developing Russia’s border infrastructure Putin said that modern border infrastructure is a prerequisite for strengthening mutually beneficial relations with foreign nations, expanding cultural ties and tourism, the Kremlin’s web site reads.
- A border checkpoint is the first impression a traveller gets of a new country, and these impressions should be positive; people should be able to pass border control as quickly and comfortably as possible, Putin said and underlined that this issues are especially important considering the major political and sporting events that are to be held in Russia in the near future, like the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 and the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
At the same time, Putin stressed that better border infrastructure will help the country in the fight against terrorism, cross-border crime, smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal immigration and theft of biological resources.
He particularly underlined that Russia should focus on building modern border infrastructure in the Arctic, “in order to fortify military and border security and improve the protection of natural resources”.
Russia has a border station on the far northern archipelago of Franz Josefs Land and is planning to build several new stations along the Northern Sea Route, head of FSBs Border Guard Service Vladimir Pronichev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta in 2010.
