MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Federal Border Guard Service has reported a decline in the number of attempts to illegally cross the border.
"In the first nine months of the year Russian border guards stopped over 4,500 people on Russia's borders as well as Tajikistan and Armenia where they guard the outside border of the CIS. This is almost 30% less than over a similar period of 2001," says an official report of the service's press center received by Interfax- Military News Agency on Tuesday.
There have especially been many attempts to illegally cross the border with Lithuania (1,200) and China (470), as well as at airports and sea ports, but none on the border with Norway.
"Economic and commercial goals remain the main reason for violating the border. They amount to 60% of all detentions," the report reads.
Border guards on the Russian-Kazakh border thwarted about 100 attempts at taking goods and commodities worth RUB5.5m (USD173,460) across the frontier in September. Moreover, more than six kilograms of drugs were seized on this border section. Border guards of the Southeastern regional departments had to use arms more often.
"Border patrols have started to use arms more often against smugglers in order to stop disorder on the border. 25 cases of this kind have been registered this year. Border guards are especially concerned with a growth in the number of illegal actions of locals who are apparently related to smuggling deals," the report reads.