GROZNY/STAVROPOL. Jan 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Some Russian border guard units based in Chechnya may be re-deployed as part of a program aimed at enhancing security at the Chechen section of the Russian-Georgian border, secretary of the republic's Security Council Rudnik Dudayev told Interfax on Thursday.
"This program involves establishing an area under the border guards' control, installing technical equipment on the border, and creating infrastructure for border guard units. Some border guard units in Chechnya may be transferred to other sites," Dudayev said.
He said that some border guard outposts were set up at the beginning of the Chechen anti-guerilla operation without taking into account the specifics of the terrain.
"During the phase of intensive anti-terrorist efforts in Chechnya, troops were deployed where it was advantageous from a military standpoint, without taking into consideration the specific features of the terrain. Now the state border is being equipped in compliance with Russian laws and the appropriate instructions," he said.
Dudayev said that Chechnya's border guard area will be comprised of natural reserves, historical monuments and cemeteries.
He said that this program was developed together with the Chechen administration, the command of the North Caucasus border guard directorates and the administrations of Chechnya's districts on the border with Georgia. The program will soon be approved by the Chechen government.
Dudayev told Interfax earlier that the area currently occupied by border guards in Chechnya has medieval architectural monuments, crypts, towns and towers which are several hundred years old.
Spokesman for the Federal Security Service's border guard directorate in the North Caucasus Sergei Livantsov told Interfax on Thursday that Russian border guards are in charge of protecting the state border on the territory of nature reserves not only in Chechnya, but also in Karachayevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria, adding that all disputes over the re- deployment of border guard units will be resolved together with these regions' administrations through a dialogue.
"As soon as the situation in the North Caucasus starts to improve, it will be easier to tackle contentious issues. Today we are being guided by the need for border guards' presence in various regions, taking into account the threats to Russia's security coming from different directions," Livantsov said.
The spokesman said that the federal program for improving the state border's security will continue throughout 2010. Its first phase will center on the North Caucasus. Livantsov confirmed that administrations from Russia's southern regions will help implement this program.
The Chechen section of the Russian-Georgian border is 81.4 kilometers long.