PM on Govt's Action Program: State border's arrangement is a matter of national security

In the framework of preparation for the liberalization of the visa regime with the EU, the Government’s Action Program provides the arrangement of a state border between Ukraine and Russia, security on the border as well as the issuing of biometric passports, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk informed, presenting the Government’s Action Program at the Parliament on Thursday, December 11.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that the state border is a national security issue, "A state which has no equipped border cannot protect her territory."

"We have to build a border between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in order to keep Russian terrorists, mercenaries, illegal migrants, weapons from crossing our border. And in order to give Ukraine an opportunity to announce that this is our territory, we will defend it," he underlined.

The Prime Minister reminded that the Cabinet of Ministers had launched the European Rampart project, and at the first stage the European Union had allocated UAH235 million on securing the border.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk also said that without a border and control over the movement of people, including illegal migration, "we will obtain no visa-free regime": "So, in the framework of our program to obtain a visa-free regime - the construction of a state border, security at the border and the transfer to the next stage of preparation for a visa-free regime."

The Prime Minister also informed that, according to the Action Program of the Government, the issuing biometric passports to the citizens of Ukraine would start from 2015.