A law that criminalizes unlawful crossing of Ukraine’s borderline by Russian defense and security personnel went into effect on Nov. 9, according to the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service.
From now on, it is qualified as a criminal offense if a Russian armed force or any other security agency serviceperson enters the country’s territory.
The same offense is applicable to those crossing Ukraine’s state border in any way other than through official points of entry, as well as to those who fail to provide appropriate documentation while crossing the border line via a checkpoint or those who provide documents that bear false information.
“Such acts shall be punished with up to three years of imprisonment,” the State Border Guard Service reported on Nov. 10.
“Besides, those who repeat the violation will face a punishment anywhere between 3-5 years of imprisonment. If the serviceperson crosses the border with violent acts or with weapons, the person will be punished with 5-8 years of imprisonment.”
However, the Ukrainian state agency noted that unlawful border crossing committed by “regular” migrants and violators were still qualified as administrative violations.
The Verkhovna Rada passed the new bill on border crossing on Oct. 18. On Nov. 7, it was signed into law by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko.
The amendments were made more than four years after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea and then invaded the eastern region of the Donbas region, triggering an ongoing full-fledged war that has killed at least 10,300 people and lasted more than four years.
Russian military truck convoys constantly enter and exit Ukraine through an uncontrolled border section between the nations. This activity has been repeatedly spotted and reported by the monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Russian-occupied Donbas.
