Kyiv introduced a border between the DPR-LPR and the rest of Ukraine

Moscow – Kyiv, November 7 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Shtamm) – The Ukrainian Border Service has introduced passport control at entry into the anti-terrorist operation zone in the east of the country. A statement released yesterday by the agency's press service stated that Ukrainian citizens can now enter the anti-terrorist operation zone only through existing checkpoints upon presentation of a passport, Kommersant reports , citing AFP.

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Foreigners and stateless persons wishing to travel to “certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions” are planned to be sent “to filtration points to determine the purpose of their stay” there.

Thus, a de facto border is now established between the territory of the self-proclaimed republics and the rest of Ukraine. From now on, border guards will not release from the ATO zone those who entered the territory of the DPR and LPR, bypassing the existing Ukrainian checkpoints. Assistant to the head of the State Border Service Sergei Astakhov explained to AFP: this measure was caused by fears that people who crossed the part of the border with the Russian Federation controlled by militias could penetrate from the conflict area into the rest of Ukraine.

Yesterday, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Ukraine Alexander Hug said that “discussions on border control have just begun.” He recalled that the Minsk Protocol of September 5 provides for monitoring abroad by the OSCE, but does not indicate who should control it. In the West, they are inclined to believe that all checkpoints should come under the control of Ukrainian security forces - in particular, EU Ambassador to the Russian Federation Vygaudas Ušackas said this yesterday on Echo of Moscow, citing the text of the Minsk protocols. The leadership of the DPR and LPR claim that they do not intend to transfer control of the border with the Russian Federation to Kyiv.