EU transferred equipment worth 2.2 million Euros to Ukraine to strengthen Belarusian-Ukrainian border
On Tuesday, the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine transferred technical equipment and transport vehicles, worth €2.2 million, to the country’s State Border Guard Service to aid in strengthening their border with Belarus.
According to the website of the State Border Guard Service, this technical assistance is part of the second phase of the SURCAP international project, which aims to strengthen the capacities of the border agencies of Ukraine and Belarus by protecting their common border. The project is funded by the European Union (EU) and is being implemented by the International Organization for Migration.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has received 25 Volkswagen Amarok Pickup Trendline off-road vehicles, six Volkswagen T6 Kombi minibuses, 45 Enduro PR4 motorbikes, 10 Outlander L Max 570 DPS quad bikes, 30 Archer TGX-8/75-640 thermal binoculars, four sets of Defendec wireless detection systems and nearly 70 pairs of cross-country skies. The equipment transfer ceremony took place in Zhytomyr.
The current phase of the EU regional project, ‘Enhancement of the capacity of border surveillance and bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Belarus’ started in April 2014. The total budget for this project, which is divided equally among the two countries, is €5.35 million.
The project is co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, the International Organization for Migration and the border agencies of Ukraine and Belarus.
The EU had previously transferred equipment and vehicles worth over €2 million to the State Border Guard Committee of the Republic of Belarus to also be used for the protection of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.