THE MEETING OF THE FRONTIER POLICY COORDINATION COMMITTEE

The first meeting of the Coordination Committee on Frontier Policy this year took place in the Administration of the Smolensk Region under the chairmanship of Governor Sergey Antufiev. They summed up the work of the law machinery keeping law and order at the border with the Republic of Belarus and the border territory in 2010.

Deputy Chief of the Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Smolensk region Pavel Surin, Chief of the Frontier Department of the Federal Security Service of Russia in the Smolensk region Roman Golubitskiy, Chief of the Smolensk customs office Vasily Knyazev and Chief of the regional Department of the Federal service on control over traffic of drugs Alexander Mityukov made reports. According to the speakers, citizens who illegally crossed the border and illegal migration of citizens from foreign states remain the main types of unlawful activity of the Smolensk area of the border with the Republic of Belarus.

The developed economic infrastructure, the advantageous geographical location, the administrative order which is less strict than that in the capital, as well as the national and religious tolerance of the population predetermine immigrants’ special attention to our region. Taking account of the fact that the length of the border of the Smolensk region and the Republic of Belarus makes over 400 km, the leaders of the defence and law enforcement agencies emphasized the necessity of constant control over immigration processes. Therefore, the effective work of the Coordination committee at further improvement of the criminogenic conditions over the territory bordering on the sister nation takes on special significance.

On the whole, the operations situation in the Smolensk region at the immigration channels is under control and does not show any signs of complications. The cooperation with the competent authorities of the Republic of Belarus continues, regular working meetings between the leaders of the associated parties are held, information interchange is active. In 2010, they inspected 310 long-distance trains, and over 77 thousand of identity cards. 149 suits were filed in relation to 148 foreigners and one stateless person for violating Russian border. ‘Only our joint efforts yield the desirable result’, emphasized Sergey Antufiev.

Then, the participants of the meeting discussed specific problems concerning the improvement of interaction of the law enforcement agencies, executive authorities and local authorities of the Smolensk region on control over immigration processes, exposure and suppression of illegal migration over the territory of the areas of the Smolensk region bordering on the Republic of Belarus. Chief of the Department of the Federal migratory service in the Smolensk region Nicolay Kalugin, Head of the Administration of the Krasny region Anatoly Zakharenkov and Head of the Rudnya region Yuri Ivashkin made reports.