Russia's Security Service: Three checkpoints at Russian-Ukrainian border resume operations - Jul. 12, 2014

Russia’s Security Service: Three checkpoints at Russian-Ukrainian border resume operations

Published July 12, 2014 at 4:46 pm

Residents of the self-proclaimed \"Lugansk People's Republic\" and the \"Donetsk People's Republic\" cross into Russia at the Russian-Ukrainian border crossing of Izvarino on June 22, 2014. Many residents are fleeing the area fearing that fighting between separatist troops and Ukrainian forces will resume when a cease-fire expires on June 27, 2014. The border post was seized by the separatists from Ukrainian forces on June 13, 2014. Donetsk and the neighbouring heavily Russified region of Lugansk declared independence in disputed May 11 referenda, the legitimacy of which was rejected by Kiev and the West.

Photo by AFP PHOTO / JOHN MACDOUGALL

Rostov-on-Don, July 12 (Interfax) - The Donetsk, Gukovo, and Novoshakhtinsk checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border have resumed their operations, but there are almost no people wishing to cross the border there, Vasily Malayev, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) border department for the Rostov region, told Interfax on Saturday.

“The Gukovo, Novoshakhtinsk, and Donetsk checkpoints that were earlier closed
because of the danger of shooting from the adjacent Ukrainian territory, are
working again,” Malayev said.

At the same time, Malayev said there are only a few people wishing to cross
the border at the Donetsk checkpoint. “There are no people at the other two,
Gukovo and Novoshakhtinsk,” he added.