RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE-RELATED LEGAL DOCUMENTS

Fundamentals of Russian Federation Border Policy

Ratified by
Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin,
Chairman of the
Russian Federation Security Council,

05 October 1996

The fundamentals of Russian Federation border policy are an integral part of the Concept for Russian Federation National Security and constitute a system of officially adopted views regarding the aim, tasks, principles, and main avenues of and the mechanism for the implementation of Russian Federation border policy.

1. General Provisions

Russian Federation border policy is designed to ensure the sovereignty, inviolability, and integrity of the territory and serve and defend the Russian Federation's national interests and security in its border area. Border policy is shaped on the basis of the Constitution, laws, and other normative-legal acts of the Russian Federation and the universally recognized norms and principles of international law and is implemented by means of the purposeful, coordinated activity of organs of state power, local self-government organs, public associations, and citizens in accordance with their rights and powers in this sphere.

An integral part of Russian Federation border policy is the preparation and implementation, in conjunction with interested member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States, of measures to ensure national and collective security on the Commonwealth's external borders.

Fair interstate demarcation, the development of international cooperation, the strengthening of the socioeconomic and spiritual basis of the Russian Federation border regions' activity are most important prerequisites for the effectiveness of border policy, Russian Federation border policy is implemented in the Russian Federation's border area, which encompasses the Russian Federation State Border, state border crossing points and associated facilities within the country, border territory, air space, transborder (border) waterways, territorial and internal waters, the underwater environment, the continental shelf, and the Russian Federation's exclusive economic zone.

The main subjects of Russian Federation border policy are federal organs of state power, organs of state power of Russian Federation components, organs of local self- government, public associations, organizations, and citizens.

The main objects of Russian Federation border policy are the Russian Federation state border and Russia's national interests in its border area as well as on the external borders of the CIS member states.

The aim of Russian Federation border policy is to serve and defend Russia's national interests and ensure the security of the individual, society, and the state in the Russian Federation's border area.

The main tasks of Russian Federation border policy are:

to create conditions for ensuring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Russian Federation and its border security;

to improve the definition in international law of the state border;

to provide interstate cooperation in preventing military danger, crises, and conflicts in the Russian Federation's border area;

to resist economic and demographic expansion onto Russian territory from other states;

to avert attempts to isolate Russia internationally by individual foreign states and military-political blocs on the basis of the state's national interests in the border area;

to ensure Russia's interests and security on the external borders of the CIS member states on the basis of international treaties.

The principles of Russian Federation border policy are:

mutual respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states and the inviolability of borders;

the priority of the Russian Federation's national interests in the border area and a comprehensive approach to their implementation and defense;

the peaceful resolution of border issues;

respect for human and civil rights and freedoms.

2. The Main Threats to the Russian Federation's National Interests and Security in the Border Area

The main threats to the Russian Federation's national interests and security in the border area are:
territorial claims;

the incomplete nature of the definition in international law of Russia's state border;

the manifestation of nationalism, ethnic and regional separatism, and religious clashes;

the broadening of economic and demographic expansion;

the misappropriation of the Russian Federation's national wealth and the galvanization of smuggling activity;

the mass export of capital and strategic raw material resources and goods;

an unstable situation as a result of a reduction in the population's living standard, ethnic conflicts, and enforced migration processes;

transborder organized crime and terrorism; regional armed conflicts near the state border;

the proliferation and stockpiling of weapons and other means of armed struggle in Russia's border regions;

accidents, catastrophes, and natural disasters with a transborder slant.

3. The Main Avenues of Russian Federation Border Policy

3.1. Improving the definition in international law of the Russian Federation state border.

The Russian Federation state border is defined in international law on the basis of the universal principles of international law enshrined in the UN Charter and other international legal documents.

The Russian Federation has no territorial claims on other states and is working toward the consistent and conflict-free completion of the process of the definition in international law of its state border.

Russia's state border, which coincides with the border of the former USSR, is inviolable. Any territorial claims on the Russian Federation by neighboring states or attempts to unilaterally change the state border are repudiated. The Russian Federation state border with the newly independent states which have come into being on the territory of the USSR's former union republics coincides with the former border of the USSR administrative- territorial division. Russia is striving to establish and enshrine a single visa area on the territory of the CIS member states. The treaty-legal definition of Russia's state border with the CIS member states is implemented on a bilateral basis. Russia reserves the right to take the requisite steps to defend its national interests on the border with these states.

3.2. Ensuring Russian Federation border security

Border security constitutes the state of protection of the vital interests of the individual, society, and state in the Russian Federation's border area.

Ensuring Russian Federation border security presumes:

the creation and improvement of the normative-legal base, which determines the powers and regulates the activity of the state, society, and the individual in the border area, and also establishes penalties for damaging Russia's national interests;

the priority development of the system of ensuring Russia's border security on the basis of the elaboration and implementation of comprehensive state targeted programs; a commitment to forecasting the development of the situation and elaborating and implementing measures to optimize the mechanism for coordinating the activity of federal organs of executive power in the border area.

3.3. Developing interstate border cooperation

Interstate border cooperation is based on the coincidence of the interests of Russia and neighboring states and is designed to consistently deepen coordination and collaboration in resolving border problems. The further development of border cooperation envisages:

shaping a normative-legal base for interstate border cooperation;

strengthening economic, social, cultural, administrative, and other ties between Russian Federation components and neighboring states;

shaping a system of ensuring collective security on the CIS member states' external borders based on the pooling of interstate efforts by the interested parties;

cooperation in combating transborder organized crime, terrorism, piracy, smuggling, arms and drugs smuggling, and also in resolving environmental and humanitarian problems, the problems of averting natural and manmade emergencies, and compliance with the norms and principles of international law.

3.4. Ensuring national and collective security on the CIS member states' external borders

Russia advocates the inviolability of the CIS member states' external borders and promotes their definition in international law and the treaty-based development of cooperation between these states' border structures in the interests of ensuring national and collective security. Ensuring the national and collective security of interested CIS member states on their external borders is one of the priority areas of Russian border policy. This is due to the following:

the commonality and interdependence of the CIS member states' socioeconomic interests;

the need to neutralize processes violating the national interests and undermining the national security of the Commonwealth states;

a number of Commonwealth states' limited opportunities to create national systems for ensuring border security; the need to counter attempts to isolate Russia geopolitically and restrict its socioeconomic and military- political ties with the Commonwealth states.

Russia may take part on a treaty basis in ensuring the national interests and collective security of the CIS member states by jointly guarding borders or providing national services with assistance in implementing border, customs, immigration, freight, quarantine, veterinary, plant health, and other inspections.

The formation of a Customs Union of CIS member states linked with Russia by an integrated economy and political partnership presumes the joint establishment on these states' borders with third countries of all kinds of checks in line with the norms of international law (passport-visa, customs, immigration, freight, quarantine, veterinary, plant health) and a coordinated mechanism for the supervision of freight movement within the territories of the states party to this union.

3.5. Developing the socioeconomic and spiritual basis of Russian Federation border regions' activity

The creation of favorable conditions for a socioeconomic boom in border regions and for an increase in the population's well-being and spiritual development is a highly important factor in the maintenance of sociopolitical stability and in ensuring Russian Federation national security in its border area. Border policy in this sphere includes:

creating conditions for production activity in border regions in the light of the nature of the new international and interregional ties;

creating conditions for the effective development of free economic zones;

preserving state control over border regions' strategic resources;

regulating external migration flow; opposing any forms of discrimination against the population in border regions;

maintaining and developing the historical traditions and customs of the population resident in border territory and kinship and friendly ties;

preserving and augmenting spiritual values, developing creative and self-organized activity, and teaching and educating the rising generations;

creating conditions for the exercise of human rights in the sphere of freedom of conscience in line with religion; creating conditions for the prevention of emergencies and for measures to defend the population, should they occur.

3.6. The shaping and development of a system of scientific expertise in the sphere of border policy

Problems pertaining to the further elaboration and implementation of Russian Federation border policy and the activity of its agents require fundamental theoretical study and a comprehensive system of scientific support for the whole process linked with ensuring Russia's national interests and security in the border area.

Priority areas of study in the sphere of Russian Federation border policy are:

methodological problems;

questions of the effect of the geopolitical situation on the way in which the defense of national interests is implemented in the border area; mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of border problems;

the socioeconomic, military, and strictly border aspects;

the influence of the migration factor on processes and phenomena in the border area;

the nationalities question in Russian border policy;

the problems of border security;

the history of the Russian border, and other aspects of border science.

4. The Implementation of Russian Federation Border Policy

Russian Federation border policy is implemented within the overall system of ensuring national security via the coordinated activity of federal organs of state power, organs of state power of Russian Federation components, organs of local self-government, public associations, organizations, and citizens on the basis of Russian Federation legislation.

The Russian Federation Government implements measures to ensure the implementation of the state's border policy, directs the activity of federal organs of executive power under its jurisdiction aimed at implementing that policy, establishes norms and procedure for their financial and material-technical support, conducts international talks on border issues, and concludes intergovernmental agreement in accordance with the authority in the sphere of border policy vested in it by the Russian Federation Constitution, federal laws, and Russian Federation presidential edicts.

When implementing border policy Russian Federation federal organs of executive power, organs of state power of Russian Federation components, organs of local self- government, public associations, and citizens exercise authority in accordance with the Russian Federation Constitution, Russian Federation legislation, and other legal acts regulating the performance of the tasks of ensuring Russian Federation national security in the border area. The Russian Federation Federal Border Service coordinates the activity of federal organs of executive power on questions of border policy in the sphere of protecting the state border, territorial waters, the continental shelf, and the exclusive economic zone. The main areas of Russian Federation border policy are implemented during the elaboration of federal targeted programs and the implementation of the state's foreign policy, economic, military, social, financial, and environmental activity.

Legal and social defense of servicemen, civilian personnel, and other people involved in implementing border policy is guaranteed by the state and implemented in accordance with the procedure prescribed by Russian Federation legislation.

Financial support for the activity of implementing border policy is provided using funds supplied by the federal budget, the budgets of Russian Federation components, and funds from local self-government organs as well as from extrabudgetary sources, whose use is determined in accordance with the procedure prescribed by Russian Federation legislation.

Targeted material and technical support for the forces and systems involved in implementing border policy is provided in amounts annually stipulated by the Russian Federation federal budget, from the resources of Russian Federation components and organs of local self-government, and also by means of the acquisition of the requisite material and technical resources from organizations and citizens.

The fundamentals of Russian Federation border policy may be supplemented, amended, and improved as society makes onward sociopolitical and economic progress and in accordance with changes in world development.