Number of violations of Armenian border expected to grow
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
December 17, 2004 Friday
YEREVAN, December 17 — Russian border guards believe the number of
violations of the Armenian border can be expected to increase next
year, Lieutenant-General Sergei Bondarev, chief of the Russian FSS
Border Guard Department in the republic, stated on Friday, summing
up the work done by his subordinates in 2005.
“We are expecting an exodus from Iraq of people of Armenian origin,
trying to get away from the zone of hostilities,” he added. Attempts
of Kurd fighters to cross the border from Turkey are also expected.
Due to the CIS visa-free regime, people will be coming to Armenia
from those countries next summer with a view to eventually leaving
the republic through check points or across the border, the general
stated. “Therefore, as of May, we shall take steps to toughen the
protection of the state border and to re-deploy our forces to its
most difficult sectors,” Bondarev noted.
Iranian citizens of Armenian origin may be expected to migrate to
Armenia in case the far from smooth relations between the United
States and Iran become even worse,” the general stated.
He also believes the number of specialists crossing the border is
bound to increase due to the construction of the gas pipeline from
Iran to Armenia and the continuing works to build of a hydraulic
power plant on the Araks River.
Growing trade turnover between Armenia and Iran tends to increase
automobile traffic over the border. All this calls for measures to
improve the work of Russian border guards and to bring it in line
with international standards, Bondarev stressed.
Summing up the results of the work of Russian border guards on
Armenia’s border with Turkey and Iran, the general said they were,
on the whole, successfully coping with their tasks.
For instance, 119 border violators and 674 persons with false
documents were apprehended this year on the sector of the border
they are guarding. Three hundred and five of them were not allowed
to cross the border. As many as fifty-five pieces of cold steel were
confiscated and more than 23,000 U.S. dollars worth of contraband goods
were handed over to Armenian customs officials. The number of people
crossing the border through check points grew by 70 per cent in 2004
as compared to 2003 and the number of motor vehicles – by 50 per cent.
Russian border guards have been provided with the latest technical
means and with automated control facilities, the general noted. “We
are now arresting border violators practically every day, who trying
to get into Armenia are to leave it with forged or wrongly made out
documents,” the general stated.
Bondarev explained the increasing number of arrested violators of the
Armenian border by the notably improved work of all the check points
and by the fact that the number of border controllers was increased
by 60 officials at the “Zvartnots” international airport, the main
gateway of Armenia. “All this has allowed us to bring our border
control techniques in line with the world standards,” Bondarev noted.