KIEV
Ukraine has announced that it was temporarily closing 16 of 65 crossing points with Russia for safety reasons, with the aim to rearrange the border, stated the Ukrainian Prime Minister’s press office on Friday.
The Ukrainian government has allocated about $7.7 million for new technical equipment to be deployed on the border with Russia to complete the first stage, of what Kiev dubs the Stina (Wall) Project, by September 30.
On September 5, the Ukrainian Council of Ministers approved the State Border Protection Agency’s project to develop a security system on the border with Russia.
The project is to be carried out in two stages, with the first being implemented in regions not involved in violence.
It is to include border strips, surveillance systems and alarm posts, in addition to 1,500 km of ditches, more than 8,000 trenches, 4,000 borders shelters as well as a 60 km-long wall.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian, Russian and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) officials have begun to work on a “buffer zone,” from which weapons are to be removed by government forces and separatists.
The buffer zone, a 30 km-long zone, is a result of the cease-fire agreed upon between Ukraine and Russia on September 5.
Kiev and pro-Russian rebels signed the September 5 truce in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, ending a five-month conflict which has left over 2,500 people dead, according to United Nations estimates.
Unrest has torn apart eastern Ukraine since April, when Kiev launched military operations in the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk to restore government control after separatists declared independence in the region.
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