General Nikolai Kuznetsov
Deputy Commander of the Border Guard Troops in Kaliningrad oblast
More than nine million people cross the borders controlled by the Kaliningrad oblast’s Border Service every year; the last decade has seen a consistent rise in the number of crossings and the trend is set to continue as the EU enlarges. The law-enforcement bodies of Kaliningrad have in the same period increasingly engaged in cross-border cooperation with their peers in the EU member states and accession countries, notably in the area of border controls.
Securing Kaliningrad’s borders
Kaliningrad oblast’s Department of the Federal Border Service guards a frontier approximately 650km in length: 200km with Poland and almost 280km with Lithuania. The terrain is diverse, including sea (184km), rivers (202km), lakes (42km) and dry land (224km). The border authorities control the passage of people, vehicles and goods at 25 crossing-points (eight sea, two air, seven rail and seven road). There is also one “simplified” border crossing which may only be used by residents of the border area who have nothing to declare to customs.
Of the 25 border crossings, 22 are international (which may be used by people with valid travel documents from any country) and three are bi-lateral which may be used only by people holding passports of the Russian Federation or of the bordering state be it Lithuania or Poland. In 2002, Kaliningrad’s border authorities permitted 9,110,000 people and 3,163,000 vehicles to cross. The number of vehicle crossings has tripled since 1994 (from 1.1m to 3.1m, including 1,800,000 foreign vehicles), while the number of people crossing the border has doubled (from 4.5m to 9.1m, including 4,400,000 foreigners).
The Kaliningrad Regional Department of the Russian Federal Border Service is responsible for ensuring the security of Russia’s borders and territorial waters. Specific tasks include interceding cross-border trafficking in arms and munitions, poisonous and explosive substances and drugs, detecting illegal migration and smuggling. The activities of organised criminal groups which present the greatest threat to both the oblast and the Baltic Sea region as a whole are: the illegal migration of people intending to enter northern and western European countries via the oblast; crimes involving the import, sale and transit of drugs; the trafficking of arms, raw materials of strategic significance (fuel and non-ferrous metals), alcohol, cigarettes and stolen cars; and the forging of identification documents and visas for entry into other states.
Neighbourhood Watch
To rise to these challenges, the Kaliningrad border guards authority has developed regional cooperation with the border-control and coastguard services of neighbouring states and other countries of the Baltic region. International cooperation is key to meeting the objectives of protecting and guarding the Russian state border. Efforts are primarily being put into joint initiatives with law-enforcement bodies in neighbouring countries to combat illegal migration, as well as cooperation on exchanging information on illegal migrants. The only way to achieve results in this area is to join forces and share information. This kind of cooperation is well-organised at regional level through joint action with the border authorities of Lithuania and Poland. In reality this means that the Russian state border is guarded jointly; joint operations are carried out to detect and stop smuggling and other illegal activities on the border; and border guards on both sides monitor observance of the state border regime and resolve any incidents on the border and at crossing-points.
Since 1995, there has been productive collaboration by Kaliningrad’s border service on Project Bornholm with the regional authorities from Bornholm, Denmark. Kaliningrad has been working with the Swedish Coastguard and Swedish police departments responsible for fighting organised crime, including on the waters of the Baltic Sea and on international shipping lanes since 1996. This cooperation with the Swedish Coastguard goes beyond merely official visits. It also encompasses agreements with the southern region of Sweden on jointly tackling cross-border crime at sea; individuals and organised crime groups involved in the illegal migration of people or trafficking in arms and drugs, as well as targeting the resources and operations of crime groups; and sea vessels, aircraft and individuals attempting illegally to cross the Baltic Sea from Russia to Sweden, or vice-versa.
When checking on the movements of fishing boats in the Baltic Sea, the coastguards of the Baltic Sea states inform one another of illegal activity by vessels, changes to fairway markings and sailing conditions and any dangers to shipping. The respective national coastguards also coordinate and participate jointly in search-and-rescue activities at sea. As for environmental threats, the coastguards also implement measures in compliance with both national legislation and international regulations to prevent pollution of the sea by Russian and Swedish ships.
The Baltic Sea Region Border Control Cooperation Conference is an international organisation comprising eleven member states including Russia, which was established in 1996 to bring together border authorities from different countries in the fight against cross-border crime. Its working bodies include the National Communication Centres (NCC) of the member states, under the direction of the International Communication Centre (ICC), which is based at the NCC of the country holding the rotating one-year presidency of the Conference. The Russian Federal Border Service has established a Communication Centre within its North-west Regional Department, and an auxiliary centre has been set up in Kaliningrad oblast, which supplies weekly information about the situation on the borders of the Baltic countries. This information enables the authorities to take pre-emptive measures to prevent illegal activity by organised crime groups.
Blocking the illegitimate, facilitating legitimate traffic
In 2002, 2,014 ‘border-jumpers’ were detained at crossing-points for reasons ranging from attempting to leave the country using stolen, forged or invalid travel documents to trying to gain entry to western European countries for the purpose of illegal migration. With the re-emergence of illegal-migration channels, up to 250 people can gain passage each month. Each year, the Kaliningrad border service uncovers between two and five channels for illegal passage from third countries. Between 1998 and 2002, more than 215 attempts by citizens of Afghanistan, China, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Vietnam and other states to illegally enter Poland and the Scandinavian countries were detected and stopped. Sub-units of the border control bodies denied entry to more than 900 citizens from third countries coming to the oblast from central Russia without Russian exit visas, or with other irregularities with their documents. Between 1999 and 2002, over 200 illegal migrants were detained for attempting to circumvent crossing-points on the Russian border with Poland.
The Federal Border Service in Kaliningrad, together with the oblast’s administration, the customs authorities and other state bodies, is also trying to create favourable conditions for law-abiding citizens to cross the border freely. There are plans to develop a wider network of crossing-points on Kaliningrad oblast’s borders. By 2005, this will have included building the Mamonovo-2-Gzhekhotki road crossing, the Rybachii-Nida river crossing and the Chernyshevskoe-Kibartai rail crossing; reconstruction of the Bagrationovsk-Bezledy road crossing; the completion and opening of the Pionersky sea crossing, and the construction and opening of the Baltic Naval Base (basin 3) sea crossing; and the reconstruction of the Chernyshevskoe-Kibartai and Pogranichny-Ramonishkyai road crossings.
Modernising and expanding the network of border crossing points is crucial in this period of EU enlargement. It will facilitate the movement of citizens and goods across the EU’s new borders with the Russian border regions at a time when many local residents are concerned that the new strengthened border should not become a barrier to movement and contact. The cooperation and understanding which is developing between the Russian Federation and the neighbouring Baltic Sea states will facilitate both a smooth crossing for legitimate people, vehicles and goods for travellers and effective checks and controls on illegitimate border traffic.
