MINSK, 24 September (BelTA) – Plans have been made to increase the number of personnel of the Belarusian border service by redistributing the overall strength of law enforcement agencies, BelTA learned from State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Stanislav Zas.
According to the source, the head of state would like to bolster border service strength by adjusting the number of personnel employed by other law enforcement agencies. “We are not going to inflate the overall number of personnel employed by Belarusian law enforcement agencies,” said Stanislav Zas.
The official reminded that the instruction to consider adjusting the Belarusian border service strength was given this summer when the head of state was visiting border service units and stations. It was pointed out that the training system in the border service is rather effective and the fact should be utilized.
“It is an objective need now. We need more personnel, particularly in the southern direction. We wanted to add people to areas where they would have to accomplish combat missions. We need nothing excessive,” said Stanislav Zas.
Border guard stations will be bolstered first. “Most of the border guard stations need it in order to be able to respond in a timely manner. The reinforcement numbers vary – from 3-5 people to 8-10 people. We've looked at every border guard station. We've examined the landscape, the length of water barriers and swamps,” he said.
Apart from that, rapid response units of the past will be revived. “We've talked about personnel numbers for these forces today. The president wants additional justification of these numbers. These units must not have any logistics support personnel or any functionaries. Such units should do purely combat work,” said Stanislav Zas.
As an additional justification of the need to increase border service strength Stanislav Zas mentioned that more than 20 new border guard stations have been set up since 2014 while the number of personnel of the State Border Committee of Belarus has not been changed. “Including 18 border guard stations on the Ukrainian border alone. The Mozyr branch of the border service has been set up. All of it has been done without raising the personnel cap. It has been done by reshuffling the available personnel. The work needs to continue. But internal reserves of the Belarusian border service are not limitless. This is why we objectively need to increase the numbers,” concluded the state secretary of the Security Council of Belarus.
