“Ukraine is restoring the system of the sea border protection and is interested in gaining experience in the use of high-speed patrol ships in combating the state border illegal crossings.”

“Ukraine is restoring the system of the sea border protection and is interested in gaining experience in the use of high-speed patrol ships in combating the state border illegal crossings.”

This was stated by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov during a working meeting with the Commander of the Coast Guard Admiral Giovanni Pettorino in Rome.

The Maritime Guard of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine was represented during the meeting by the Chief of the Regional Maritime Directorate, Rear Admiral Oleh Kostur.

The SBGS Maritime Guard provides the state border regime in the areas of responsibility; certain units perform tasks in the area of environmental protection, patrol threatening areas and serve as patrols.

The competence of the Maritime Guard also coveres control over the navigation and stay of Ukrainian and foreign non-military vessels and warships in the territorial sea, inland waters, combating attempts at smuggling and violations of EU legislation on Exclusive Maritime Economic Zone of Ukraine, control in areas of conservation natural resources, patrolling the coastal zone and inland waters by special operations units.

“In the current challenges and threats facing Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine is restoring the system of maritime borders protection. In particular, in July of this year the project on providing the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine with 20 modern patrol ships was launched at the Mykolaiv shipbuilding plant “Nibulon”. But at the same time, we also want to gain vast experience of the coast guard of the Republic of Italy in combating illegal migration, smuggling, drug trafficking, as well as the state border protection from illegal encroachments,” said Arsen Avakov.

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine added that Ukraine is interested in gaining experience in using heavy cargo patrol ships in combating illegal border crossings, cooperation of various types of intelligence and surveillance of the state border (land, sea, aviation) and control of border guards. After all, Italy controls half of the Mediterranean, and more than 1 million migrants have been rescued in recent years.

Also during the visit to Italy, the possibility of purchasing special ships for border guards and rescuers was discussed with one of the leaders of the Italian shipbuilding industry - T. Mariotti and the Italian State Export Agency. The Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to provide SBGS and SES specialists with freight ships, which have long been in the service of Italian colleagues. It is planned that the shipbuilding project will be implemented together with Ukrainian companies.

“The development of our State Emergency Service and the State Border Guard Service is extremely important for us. And in order to respond properly to the challenges we face, we must provide them with the best equipment. Including - specialized ships” - Arsen Avakov emphasized.

It should be noted that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine currently needs two larger ships that are capable of basing a rescue helicopter on them.

It is important to note that in the first half of 2020, the Maritime Guard of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine used more than 30 ship and boat personnel, of which more than a dozen tactical groups were formed. Search and rescue activities and duty were also provided. 505 sea patrols were made. 31,372 miles were traveled. The control over the order of stay and navigation of vessels was doubled: 7,886 vessels were tracked (for comparison, in the same period in 2019 - 3,677). 627 vessels were inspected.