5 Dec 2019 19:49

Kyrgyz border guards register 16 incidents on borders in 10 months

BISHKEK. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Since the beginning of the year Kyrgyzstan has registered 16 border incidents, 13 of them on the border with Tajikistan, Interfax was told at the press service of the Kyrgyz State Border Service on Thursday.

"In 10 months of 2019 16 border incidents were registered, 13 of them on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section, two - on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek and one - on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh," a spokesman for the service said.

"This year the situation on the state border has remained stable but with elements of tension," he said.

A set of measures to fortify the state border was carried out in 2019 in the framework of Kyrgyzstan's integration in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), he said.

"In the course of the second stage of enforcement of the agreement between the governments of Kyrgyzstan and Russia on technical assistance in the process of the republic's accession to EAEU 125 motor vehicles and special vehicles were delivered from Russia in January," the press service said.

"In Q2 the Russian side delivered 86 sets of technical equipment for border protection for a total sum of $3 million. Russian experts also conducted training courses for servicemen of the Kyrgyz State Border Service on the use of the equipment," the press service said.

Conflicts between local residents arise from time to time on the undelimited section of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. The latest incident involving the use of arms occurred on September 16. One Kyrgyz border guard was killed in an exchange of fire. Reports from Dushanbe say three Tajik servicemen were also killed. On the Kyrgyz side 13 people were injured and several more people were wounded on the Tajik side.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistani exchanged protest notes blaming each other for the incident.

The Kyrgyz-Tajik border is 971 kilometers long. The sides started talks on border delimitation in the 1990s but later the process stopped and resumed only two years ago. By now 583 kilometers have been delimited.