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Russia Restores Soviet Borders
// Borders zones will be accessible only with the permission of the FSB
The expansion of border zones into recreation areas has caused cries of protest in Maritime Territory. In several areas, the border zones have been expanded from 5 km. to their 30-km. magnitude Soviet times. The border zones through the country will be expanded soon under an order signed by FSB director Nikolay Patrushev. New rules for travel in the zones will be set at the end of this month. Russia is thus practically returning border practices of Soviet times and the Federal Security Service (FSB) will receive control over immense territories.
Deputy head of the border department for Maritime Territory Vyacheslav Biryukov said yesterday at a briefing in Vladivostok explained the order signed by Patrushev on the expansion of border zones. This was necessitated by reports in local newspapers that, under Patrushev's order, local residents were not being allowed into tradition recreational areas without a border service permit. Local tour operators were alarmed the new procedure would hinder last-minute “hot tour” sales. Biryukov counseled all to remain calm about the return of the Soviet border regime and explained no mechanism had been worked out yet for enforcing the order and no fines would be levied on people found in the zone without a permit until the end of the month when the order was registered and confirmed by the Justice department.
The package of orders signed by Patrushev promises changes for all border regions. The FSB received control over the border service in March 2003. It began preparations for the changes now being observed long ago. In 2004, under 2004 amendments to the law “On the State Border,” the right to establish and define the limits of border zones was transferred from Russian executive authorities to the FSB. Just before that, the clause that specified that border zones are not to exceed 5 km. was removed from article 16 of the same law. In the new edition of the same law, article 16 specifies that there are rules for “economic, industrial and other activities and the conduct of mass socio-political events” in the 5-km. border zone.
The FSB has taken practical step toward expanding the 5-km. border zone only this year, however, and only gradually. Since March, Patrushev has signed four packages of orders that define the new boundaries of border zones for every region individually.
The first package of orders was signed on March 2 and expanded the border zones of 11 subjects of the federation in the south of Russia. Those subjects were the republics of Dagestan, Kalmykia, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkesia and Chechnya as well as Krasnodar Territory and Astrakhan, Rostov and Volgograd Regions.
The second package of orders was signed on April 14and affected Far Eastern regions. Besides Maritime Territory, those subjects of the federation are Khabarovsk Territory; Yakutia, Koryakia and Chukotka Autonomous Areas and Sakhalin, Magadan, Amur, Kamchatka and the Jewish Autonomous Districts, in all of which the border zones were significantly expanded.
The third package of orders concerned the northern and western areas of the country. Those are Karelia, Murmansk, Pskov, Leningrad and Arkhangelsk Regions, Nenets Autonomous District in the north and Bryansk, Belgorod, Samara, Kursk, Saratov, Orenburg, Voronezh and Kaliningrad Regions in the west.
The last package was announced on July 22 but dated June 16. It sets new border zone boundaries in Siberia, specifically the Buryat, Tuva and Altai Republics; Yamalo-Nenets and Tamyr Autonomous Districts; Kurgan, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Chita and Tyumen Regions and Altai Territory.
The orders expand the 5-km. border zones to 30 km. in many areas. Besides Maritime Territory, that occurred in Kabardino-Balkaria, where the border zones in the villages of Verkhnyaya Balkaria and Bezengi were extended to 30 km.; in Chechnya in Khacharoi village Itum-Kalinsk District and Ekhk in Sharoi District, where the border zones were expanded to 17 km. and 15 km. from Georgia, respectively. In Slantsevsky District in Leningrad Region, the border zone was expanded to approximately 20 km. The village of Lebyazhye, Lomonosovsky District, Leningrad Region, was also included in the border zone, although it is located on the Gulf of Finland, about 90 km. away from the border. The border zone was expanded by an average of 10 km. in several parts of Rostov Region. In Murmansk Region, along the border with Finland and Norway and the water border of the Russian Federation, the border zone has been expanded to 25 km.
The border zones have practically been returned to the conditions of Soviet times. If the average depth of the border zone is assumed to be 15 km., 550,000 sq. km. of Russian territory have been turned over to the control of the FSB. That is the size of France. Along the land border alone, the border zone consists of about 330,000 sq. km. (the size of Finland). The FSB can now limit the right of citizens to enter or travel in that territory and control any economic activity there.
Alla Barakhova
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 02, 2006
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Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
