Ukraine-Russia border 'wall' may be completed Sep 30

Moscow, Sep 26 (IANS/ITAR -TASS) Ukraine plans to complete the first stage of "Project Wall" construction by Sep 30, as part of reinforcing its border with Russia, the press service of the Ukrainian government said Friday.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a government meeting Sep 3 that Ukraine would started building a "real border" with Russia, which is 2,295 km long.

The government has allocated some $7.7 million for fully re-equipping the border between Ukraine and Russia.

Last week, the Ukrainian government approved a plan to construct the wall for the protection of the border with Russia and the administrative border with Crimea.

A total of 16 out of 65 checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border have temporarily stopped operations.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Wednesday signed a decree on "urgent measures" to protect Ukraine and enhance its defensive capacity.

Poroshenko has instructed the government to consider temporarily closing checkpoints on Ukraine's state border with Russia to road and maritime traffic.

The Ukrainian leader has also ordered the government to take steps for unilateral demarcation of the state border with Russia.

--IANS/ITAR-TASS

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