Belarusian border with Ukraine to be equipped with technical protection devices in hard-to-reach areas

Minsk. March 16 (Interfax) - Hard-to-reach sections of the Belarus-Ukraine border will be equipped with modern technical means for better border protection, the Belarusian State Border Committee said on Wednesday following a working meeting between State Border Committee Chairman Igor Butkevich and Belarusian Forestry Minister Alexander Kulik.

"The sides have discussed joint approaches to the issues of engineering improvement of the state border of the Republic of Belarus in the wooded and marshy areas. Taking these measures on the Belarusian-Ukrainian sector of the border is most relevant for the time being," the Belarusian State Border Committee said in a statement.

"The bulk of borders with Ukraine goes through rugged and swampy areas," it said.

"Due to such difficult landscapes, it is impossible to equip classic protected borders with a control and trace strip and engineering barriers. Both fire safety and border security will be ensured through establishing firebreaks in direct vicinity of the state border. The most optimal solution is to equip them with most advanced technical protection devices with various operating principles. Those include seismic and radio beam sensors, various types of photo traps and pother devices that not only help identify border trespassers but also help determine the direction of their movement," the Belarusian State Border Committee said.