Ukraine continues to tighten its border-crossing rules, particularly for Russians. Last week the president endorsed the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) decision "On urgent measures to neutralize threats to national security in the field of migration policy."
UNIAN looked into the new rules.
The tightening of the rules for crossing the Ukrainian border began last year. Back in June 2017, NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov announced that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine was preparing to admit citizens of the Russian Federation only with biometric passports and to collect their biometric data.
Later, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko stated that the country would introduce a procedure for collecting biometric data from all foreigners entering the country as a necessary counter-terrorism measure. And on August 30 last year he put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine "On strengthening control over the entry into and exit from Ukraine of foreigners and stateless persons and their compliance with the rules of stay in Ukraine."
This NSDC decision provides for new control systems at the state border for foreigners and stateless persons from countries of migration risk, or for those who entered Ukraine from the territory of such countries. In fact, it was this decision that added Russia to the list of countries posing a migration risk to Ukraine (there are some seventy such states).
Several other innovations were also planned. First, foreigners from "high-risk" countries were to enter Ukraine with biometric passports, with their biometric data recorded at the border. Russians, in addition, were to register at their place of stay in Ukraine and provide detailed information about their travel route through our territory.
Second, an advance electronic notification was to be introduced. In other words, before coming to Ukraine, the same Russians were to inform the Ukrainian authorities at least a month in advance in an electronic notification. As for the form it should take and to whom it should be sent, the presidential decree gave the government two months to settle these questions. That deadline quietly expired back in the autumn of 2017…
Whether the Cabinet of Ministers was unable to appoint those responsible for implementing the innovations or there were some other reasons, of all the planned forms of control only biometric verification has been fully operational since January 1 of this year.
Why it is needed
Today citizens of "high-risk" countries cross the Ukrainian border with a biometric passport, and if they do not have one, border guards record their biometrics right at the checkpoints. "As for our main 157 international and interstate checkpoints, all of them have the necessary equipment. Perhaps not yet in full, but in the minimum needed to carry out the procedures," says Oleh Slobodian, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
According to him, although the system has been operating for several months, the number of foreigners with biometric passports is still noticeably lower than the number of those without them. And "most of the foreigners who have already given their fingerprints so far are, after all, Russians."
In the expert community, any innovations related to controlling the crossing of the Ukrainian border are supported.
Political scientist Olesya Yakhno-Belkovska believes that "such measures will make it possible to identify each individual person and remove possible sabotage risks." "Perhaps this will help detect at an early stage those who were preparing sabotage," she says.
"If a person has a clear purpose for the trip — a business or private visit — then it will not be difficult for them to state that purpose and leave some of their details. But for Ukraine, given that we understand what the risks may be, such an initiative is justified," Yakhno-Belkovska adds.
The expert recalls that various ways of protecting Ukraine from the risks of sabotage and terrorist activity, from attempts to undermine the situation from within and from initiatives that may come from Russia have been very actively discussed over the past few years. During this time the most diverse options have been voiced: from introducing a visa regime for Russian citizens to severing diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation.
Oleh Bilokolos, an expert at the Maidan of Foreign Affairs foundation, talks about visas for Russians. In his view, the question of a visa regime with Russia as a whole certainly needs serious study. However, the expert believes that a visa, as a tool for controlling the crossing of the state border, has a number of advantages. "A visa is a mechanism that has been refined over years; everyone understands what a visa regime is, each visa has its own requirements and places responsibility on the consular officer who issues it. Although, of course, the people who check those entering at the border should also bear greater responsibility. Various other tools may raise additional questions and possible misunderstandings," Bilokolos believes.
At the same time, he is convinced that control over the situation at the border is absolutely necessary. In his words, since Ukraine now has visa-free travel with EU countries, we must somehow bring order to the situation on our other borders.
Electronic notification: attempt No. 2
Nobody has given up on attempts to tighten control at Ukraine's border. On March 1, 2018, the NSDC adopted the decision "On urgent measures to neutralize threats to national security in the field of migration policy," and three weeks later, on March 21, the president signed a decree putting it into effect.
This decision once again states that foreigners from countries of migration risk must undergo enhanced checks to cross Ukraine's border. And the government is again instructed to develop, within a few months, a mechanism for checking the grounds for entry into Ukraine in advance — that is, an electronic notification.
Although Ukraine now has two NSDC decisions that mention electronic notifications to be submitted by foreigners before visiting our country, the State Border Guard Service has not yet begun preparing for such innovations. "We are waiting for the government to work out the mechanism, and then we will act in accordance with the powers granted to us," says Slobodian.
Essentially, the Cabinet of Ministers needs to decide on whose "shoulders" to place this control function. Last year alone, according to the State Statistics Service, more than 14.2 million foreigners entered Ukraine, about 1.5 million of them Russians. If all these people are required to notify Ukraine electronically of their trip to our country, someone will have to read these letters, filter them and give the go-ahead for entry to those deemed trustworthy. How feasible this is, however, officials do not say.
Is there any point in a register of foreigners?
Another controversial point that raises questions about implementation concerns the requirement to prepare and approve, within two months, a procedure for registering foreigners from unfriendly countries in a dedicated register. According to specialists, in theory such a special register is not difficult to create, but it is rather costly. Yuriy Syvytsky, a member of the supervisory board of the IT consortium Intecracy Group, says such work could take two to three months. "We have a ready-made platform approved by the State Service for Special Communications (meaning that all the security features required to obtain the relevant certificate have already been implemented), which currently runs the Ministry of Justice registers (they cost about UAH 50 million, and development took 2.5 years). Such a register [of foreigners] could be built for about UAH 5 million on the basis of that platform," says Syvytsky, stressing that an exact price can only be discussed once the relevant documentation appears on Prozorro, together with the budget the Cabinet of Ministers is prepared to allocate to the idea.
Andriy Solodko, a migration and human rights expert at the CEDOS think tank, in turn questions the rationale for creating such a register, since Ukraine already has the Arkan system — the border service's database. "It is not yet clear how they will differ, or whether it would be simpler and cheaper to 'upgrade' the existing database instead of creating a new one. Border guards, the SBU, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the fiscal service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Social Policy already have access to Arkan. So there is not even any need to amend the order approving the Regulation on the database 'Information on persons who have crossed the state border of Ukraine,'" he says.
According to Solodko, creating a register does not in itself violate human rights, since it is unlikely that any data will be collected beyond what border guards already gather. The analyst is far more concerned about cooperation between certain agencies, in particular the SBU and the State Border Guard Service, and the security services of former Soviet republics in the context of extraditing political refugees. Such cases have occurred with Russia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. "Won't this database become an additional source of information whose use will endanger the lives and freedom of asylum seekers? Most of them come precisely from countries of migration risk and will certainly end up in this database," Andriy Solodko stresses.
Ihor Tyshkevych, an expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future think tank, says that in principle such a register is needed, but notes that "houses are built from the foundation up." He points out that Ukraine today does not have a single register even of its own citizens: there is a separate State Migration Service database by place of registration, which was handed over to local authorities, and a separate database by individual tax number (and these databases do not fully match).
"For such a register to work effectively, it is necessary, at the very least, to synchronize one database of people who are in Ukraine, regardless of citizenship. And only then keep records of everyone who has come to Ukraine temporarily, without linking them to particular countries," Tyshkevych believes.
The State Border Guard Service plans to develop and submit its own proposals on these mechanisms, in particular on the register. However, work on this issue has not yet begun at the agency either. "There have been no working groups so far," notes Oleh Slobodian.
In a country at war, with the aggressor right next door, no tool designed to prevent and neutralize threats to national security will be superfluous. But it is important not only to talk about it but actually to launch the verification mechanisms. And that, unfortunately, is hard to believe. Especially considering that, in addition to introducing the advance electronic notification mechanism and approving the procedure for registering foreigners in some register, the Cabinet of Ministers must draft and submit a number of bills to parliament in the coming months. In particular, it must prepare amendments to the Laws of Ukraine "On the legal status of foreigners and stateless persons" and "On border control." The government must also amend the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and tighten liability for violating the procedures for employing, enrolling in education, providing housing and providing other services to Russians and stateless persons. After all, there is no guarantee that all of this will be done on time.
Iryna Shevchenko, UNIAN