Lukashenko approved decisions on state border protection in 2024

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has approved decisions on the protection of the state border by border guard authorities, as well as in the airspace in 2024, BELTA reports.

As noted in his report by the Chairman of the State Border Committee, Major General Konstantin Molostov, all orders and instructions given by the head of state to the border guard authorities in 2023 have been fulfilled. The situation on the state border remains stably tense, but at the same time predictable and controlled.

"The situation on the state border and in the border space is stably tense today. There is a certain decrease, primarily related to weather conditions – flows of illegal migration are slightly decreasing. We see the military challenges emanating from neighboring countries and recognise them in a timely manner. We respond in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, the State Security Committee, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs," said the Chairman of the State Border Committee.

In 2024, priority efforts in border protection will be focused on implementing measures to identify and suppress challenges and threats to the national interests of Belarus in the border space, ensuring the visa-free regime for citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland, and further enhancing the engineering development of the state border.

The construction and commissioning of new border unit complexes and border infrastructure facilities will continue, as will the further development and equipping of mobile groups with modern weapons and equipment. Improving the combat and professional training of border guard authorities, the educational material and technical base, and further developing the system for training officer personnel are also priorities.

Regarding the protection of the state border in the airspace, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces – First Deputy Minister of Defence, Viktor Gulevich, stated that a grouping of NATO countries' air forces has been concentrated near the Belarusian state border. This was done, among other things, as part of the "Safe Podlasie" operation. Naturally, such a presence influences the defence of the Belarusian state border in the airspace, increasing risks and challenges, the Chief of the General Staff emphasised.

"The Armed Forces (of Belarus. – BELTA's note) are taking additional measures to enhance the radar field, the forces and means of radio-technical troops, and the forces and means of electronic warfare, which can successfully carry out measures to detect intruder vessels and to influence them," he noted.

According to the Chief of the General Staff, the number of provocations in the airspace remains at the same level. At the same time, the equipping of Belarusian radio-technical troops with new models of equipment and armament, both domestically produced and received from Russia, enhances the capabilities of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces to detect both provocations and possible accidental violations. "We can track them, document them, and present claims to neighbouring countries, which, I hope, do this accidentally rather than intentionally," Viktor Gulevich said.

Source: belta.by