State Border Guard Service
Derzhavna Prykordonna Sluzhba

In June 2014 President Petro Poroshenko ordered the armed forces to secure the frontier. In several weeks of fighting, pro-Russian separatists had seized a number of border posts, enabling them to bring in reinforcements, weapons and other supplies. Securing border became Poroshenko's most pressing problem, and by mid-June he said a 250-km (160-mile) stretch of the border has already been taken back. He said that once the border was secure, a truce can start and peace talks begin.

The State Border Service of Ukraine is a separate institution but it is represented in the Cabinet of Ministers by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is the most proactive agency in comparison to other defense and law enforcement structures and it resolves from the military structure into law enforcement (police-type) body.

The establishment of Ukrainian nationality occurred simultaneously with the development of the national border agency, solution to issues of state border control, its legal registration and infrastructure development. During the years 1991-2012 border agency of Ukraine was active actor of the national security system and within its powers carried out a significant amount of measures provided by the law.

The main incentive for agency’s development was its real depoliticization, institutional stability and large lobbying capacities. Since the end of 2001 through 2014 M.M. Lytvyn, brother of speaker Ukrainian parliament V.M. Lytvyn, was working as a head of State border guard service of Ukraine. During all this time there were no substantial personnel convulsions concerning heads of departments – deputies Head that made provision for stable management and consistency in decisions implementation. Proximity to politicians, responsible for state decision-making let lobby all important legislative and budget initiatives that served as an impetus for reforms.

Besides, active international cooperation and interest of the EU and the USA in secure Ukrainian borders has become another precondition for reforms. Regular successful contacts and experience transfer among state officials of State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and their European colleagues has changed the attitudes to the system and practices of border defense. Great interest of the EU in reliable system of Ukrainian border defense across all its territory let foreign donors fully implement all the technical assistance programs.

The functioning of the modern model of the State border is provided by the border management system, which what comes true in scaled by the special subjects — organs of government. Each of these subjects products, passes, perceives, converts regulative influences Most of these impacts have an informational character, because the process of management of the State border guard is, mainly, the process of evaluation and analysis information. The material basis of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBS), as one of the components of the information provision, is Integrated information- telecommunication system “Gart” (IITS “Gart”), which is an important element of Intranet network.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is charged with the tasks of ensuring inviolability of state borders and protection of sovereign rights of Ukraine within its exclusive (maritime) economic zone.

Principal functions of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine are as follows:

• policing Ukraine’s state border on land, sea, rivers, lakes, and other water bodies in order to prevent any illegal change of its line and to enforce the regime of the state border and the borderline regime;
• exercising border control and allowing passage across the border, according to the established procedure, of individuals, vehicles, cargos and other properties as well as detecting and stopping illegal movement thereof;
• safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereign rights in its exclusive (maritime) economic zone, and supervising the exercise of rights and the meeting of obligations in that zone by other states, Ukrainian and foreign legal and natural persons, and international organizations;
• carrying out intelligence, information and analytical, and operational criminal investigation activities to ensure protection of Ukraine’s state border in accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Intelligence Bodies in Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine on Operational Criminal Investigation;
• participating in the fight against organized crime and counteracting illegal migration at Ukraine’s state border as well as within the bounds of the border districts controlled;
• participating in state protection of the places of permanent and temporary stay of the President of Ukraine and officials listed in the Law of Ukraine on State Protection of Public Authorities and Officials of Ukraine;
• guarding Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions abroad;
• coordinating the activities of military formations and relevant law-enforcement bodies related to protection of Ukraine’s state border as well as coordinating the activities of state bodies that exercise various types of control over crossing of Ukraine’s state border or take part in enforcement of the state border regime, the borderline regime, and the regime at Ukrainian state border checkpoints.

The main tasks of Marine Guard were to continue the implementation of measures provided by the State law enforcement program "Organisation and Reconstruction of the state border" to 2015, by the Concept and Development Program of Marine Guard to 2020. To this end: make crew training for newly built ships and boats; continue manning the boats of Marine Guard; complete the licensing of profile specialties in Izmail training detachment of Marine Guard of Southern Regional directorate; improve the organization of personnel training by professions to serve on various projects of ships and boats of Marine Guard; and continue measures to upgrade and optimize ships and boats of Marine Guard.

As of May 2014 Marine Guard had 63 ships and boats. Administration of Marine Guard reduces ships and boats, which have already served and are unusable. Reduction of the unusable ships and boats enables to reduce financial costs for its maintenance, to redistribute the funds for maintenance of technical availability of the ships and boats, which are used in service, and also to get additional finances to special budget fund.

In the light of events in Luhask region (blockage of border guards units and BCPs, seizure of border patrols, assault on the personnel of BCP “Izvarynre”), in May 2014 border guard veteran’s community and partial local inhabitants initiated the formation of border self-defense squads. The primary mission of such units will be maintaining stability in border area, assistance to border guards while fulfilling the tasks of border protection and support in case of armed attack towards BCPs.

On 12 June 2014, several dozen protesters tried to storm the building of the main office of the State Border Service on Zolotovoritska Street. They accused the leadership of the service of corruption and inability to organize the protection of the state border in the eastern regions of the country. The activists who picketed the building of the State Border Service of Ukraine have reached their goal - its chairman, Mykola Lytvyn, resigned the next day.