In 2014, as the Ukrainian government lost Crimea and a portion of the Donbas to Russia and Russian-backed separatists, respectively, it unveiled a plan called "Project Wall" through which it sought to erect a fortified border barrier along the rest of the international border, with the goal of blocking any further Russian incursions into the country. It was estimated that the barrier would cost around US$520 million and take four years to complete. Construction began in 2015,[3] but was suspended due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
On 1 January 2018, Ukraine introduced biometric controls for Russian citizens entering the country.[4] On 22 March 2018, erstwhile Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko signed a decree into law that required all Russian visitors to inform Ukrainian authorities of their reason for travelling to Ukraine before their date of entry.[4] On 7 November 2018, the Criminal Code of Ukraine was amended to make illegal border crossings by Russians into Ukraine ("to harm the country's interest") punishable by imprisonment for up to three years.[5]
Since 30 November 2018, Ukraine has banned all Russian males aged 16–60 from entering the country, albeit with room for exceptions on humanitarian grounds.[6][7][8][9]
Since 1 March 2020, Ukrainian citizens are required to use their "international passport" when crossing the Ukrainian border to enter Russia,[10][better source needed] but can continue to use their "internal passport" when returning to Ukraine.[10][better source needed] Prior to this law, Ukraine allowed the "internal passport" to be used for travel to Russia.
Ukrainian customs service officer checking a car at the land crossing between Ukraine's Hoptivka and Russia's Nekhoteyevka in April 2008.
The border has inherited its location from the administrative-territorial division between the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SFSR. The first real demarcation took place in May 1918 in Kursk.[11] After the fall of the Russian Empire, several factions sought to create an independent Ukrainian state, alternately cooperating and struggling against each other. Most of Ukraine (Ukrainian People's Republic) was overrun by the Red Guards of Soviet Russia. With the help of the Central Powers, Ukraine managed to recover all its territories of "Ukrainian governorates" and also annexed a number of neighboring counties of Kursk and Voronezh governorates where the ethnic composition of the population was predominantly Ukrainophone (Ukrainian-speaking).[12] On 6 May 1918, a ceasefire agreement was signed in Konotop between Ukraine and Soviet Russia.[11] Between the fighting sides a neutral territory between 10 and 40 km wide was established to prevent further aggression, but the Russian side decided to create guerrilla forces which were transformed into two "Ukrainian divisions"[11] (see Nikolay Shchors).
Peace talks started on 23 May 1918 in Kyiv, where the Russian delegation was headed by Christian Rakovsky and Dmitry Manuilsky, while the Ukrainian - by Serhiy Shelukhin [uk] (Ambassador of Ukraine to Russia).[11] On June 12, 1918, the sides signed a preliminary peace treaty.[11] Further negotiations stalled due to a lack of consensus on the issue of the borders.[11] The Ukrainian side was proposing an ethnic principle based on the already established political, geographical, and economic aspects, while the Russian side insisted on conducting a plebiscite in each populated place.[11] On 22 June 1918, both sides finally agreed to go along with the Ukrainian proposition, while any contested issues would be decided by plebiscite.[11] Yet any further negotiations led nowhere and were terminated by the Ukrainian delegation in October 1918 as it was becoming apparent that the Russian was using their time more for the pro-Soviet propaganda.[11]
On 8 August 1918, the sides signed the treaty "About Basic Principles of Bilateral Relations", wherein each side agreed to renounce its territorial contests against the other, and borders were established based on the gubernatorial division of the Russian Empire.[11] The Don-Ukraine border outlined the Oblast of Don Host to the west of the Don Republic and Yekaterinoslav, Kharkiv, Voronezh guberniyas to the east of Ukraine.[11] To Ukraine also was ceded some territory of the right bank of the Kalmius river just east of Mariupol "to ensure the proper administration of the city and port".[11] On September 18, 1918, between Don and Ukraine the Don-Ukrainian Commission was created for the administration of the Taganrog Industrial District, based in Kharkiv.[11]
After the second invasion of the Soviet troops during the Russian Civil War in 1919, the new Soviet government of Ukraine intended to retain all territorial gains of the Ukrainian national government (Ukrainian State). However, after several rounds of negotiations, the border between the "Ukrainian governorates" (Chernihiv and Kharkiv) and the "Russian governorates" (Bryansk and Kursk) was left intact.[12] It also was agreed that Ukraine would border Crimea at the Perekop Isthmus.[12] On March 10, 1919, a border treaty was signed between the Russian SFSR and the Ukrainian SSR.[12]
After the USSR was formally created in 1922 and due to the onset of the administrative division reform, issues emerged. The Ukrainian government claimed mainly some parts of the Kursk and Voronezh gubernia, which were home to a Ukrainian-speaking population. As a result of the border dispute of the 1920s, Ukraine was granted approximately one-third of the claimed territories, while the Taganrog and Shakhty districts went back to the RSFSR. By 1927, the administrative border between the RSFSR and Ukrainian SSR was established.
In 1991, Ukraine as a new independent state inherited the territory and the boundaries of the former Ukrainian SSR. At the time the Russia–Ukraine border was an administrative line, which was not delimited nor demarcated. Ukraine has been trying to establish a proper border since.[17]
Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances (1994)
The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances refers to three identical political agreements signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary on 5 December 1994. Among other things, the Memorandum promised that its signatories (the Russian Federation, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom) would respect Ukraine's existing borders.
Border treaty (2003)
The Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the Russian–Ukrainian State Border[18] was signed by President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation on 28 January 2003.[19] It defined the entire land border between the two states (shown in red), except for the point where it met the Belarusian border, which was agreed in a separate treaty.[18] It was ratified by both states, and entered into force on 23 April 2004.[19] However, maritime border wasn't delimitated over controversy concerning the waters of the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait. A separate Russian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty was signed in 1997, which included the recognition of existing borders. The treaty prevented Ukraine and Russia from invading one another's country respectively, and declaring war. After Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Ukraine announced that it would not renew the treaty again when it expired in September 2018. The treaty consequently expired on 31 March 2019.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]
The island Tuzla Spit became a major dispute between Russia and Ukraine in 2003. The island is located in the Kerch Strait and administratively it is part of Crimea, Ukraine. During the Soviet period, the island along with Crimea was transferred to Ukraine in 1954; the fact which was also fiercely contested by several Russian politicians was the legal background of the territorial change.
The main trade routes lay completely within the deeper part of the Kerch Strait which is located between the island and Crimea and is considered a part of the territorial waters of Ukraine. On the other hand, ships are impeded to travel to the east of the island (towards the Taman peninsula) due to the fact that there are shallow waters. Between Tuzla and the Taman peninsula, there are two channels; however, none of them are deeper than 3 m (9.8 ft). Fishing spawn also mainly takes place in the territorial waters of Ukraine, which is favorable for the fishing industry of Crimea. The intensity of the conflict increased due to the forecast of locations of oil and gas in the area and the lack of an established and ratified international border between Russia and Ukraine. On the proposition of the Russian side, it was offered for the border to stretch along the bed of the territorial waters while sharing the use of the Azov Sea and Kerch Strait waters.
Russian annexation of Crimea (2014)
Since the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, the status of the Crimea and of the city of Sevastopol is currently under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine, and the majority of the international community, consider the Crimea to be an autonomous republic of Ukraine, and Sevastopol to be one of Ukraine's cities with special status. Russia, on the other hand, considers the Crimea to be a federal subject of Russia and Sevastopol to be one of Russia's three federal cities.[20][21] Since 1991, Russia also leases Sevastopol Naval Base with the current lease extending to the 2040s with an option for another extension, but the Russian State Duma approved the denunciation of this lease agreements unanimously by 433 members of parliament on 31 March 2014.[22]
Borders of the Russian Naval Base, in the city of Sevastopol, and its vicinity have not been clearly identified.
In December 2018, Russia announced it completed the construction of the 60-km barrier across Perekop Isthmus between Ukraine and Crimea.[23]
Restrictions on Russians entering Ukraine (2018–present)
On 1 January 2018, Ukraine introduced biometric controls for Russians entering the country.[4] On 22 March 2018, President of UkrainePetro Poroshenko signed a decree that required Russian citizens and "individuals without citizenship, who come from migration risk countries” (more details were not given) to notify the Ukrainian authorities in advance about their reason for traveling to Ukraine.[4]
On 7 November 2018, the Criminal Code of Ukraine was amended to make an illegal crossing of the border into Ukraine "to harm the country's interest" punishable by imprisonment for up to three years.[5] This refers to persons who are denied entry to Ukraine and members of units of the Russian armed forces or other law enforcement agencies, who try to cross the state border of Ukraine by any means beyond official checkpoints or at checkpoints without proper travel documents or documents containing inaccurate information.[5] The same acts committed repeatedly or by a group of persons will entail imprisonment from three to five years.[5] Imprisonment from five to eight years is foreseen for committing these acts combined with violence or the use of weapons.[5]
Since 30 November 2018, Ukraine bans all Russian men between 16 and 60 from entering the country with exceptions for humanitarian purposes.[7][8][9] Ukraine claims this is a security measure to prevent Russia from forming units of “private” armies on Ukrainian soil.[6]
On 1 July 2022, Ukraine made it compulsory for Russian citizens to apply for a visa to enter Ukraine.[27] During the first four months of the visa regime, ten visas were issued and seven Russian citizens entered Ukraine (mostly for humanitarian reasons).[27]
According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine the number of Russian citizens who crossed the border with Ukraine (more than 2.5 million Russians in 2014) dropped by almost 50% in 2015.[29] They also refused entry into Ukraine to 16,500 citizens of Russia in 2014 and to 10,800 Russians in 2015.[30] According to the State Border Guard there were 1.5 million trips by Russians to Ukraine in 2017.[4]
The border has a length of 2,295.04 kilometres (1,426.07 mi) of which 1,974.04 kilometres (1,226.61 mi) is land border and 321 kilometres (199 mi) is sea border. It extends from a point in the Black Sea 22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi) south of the Kerch Strait, where the first contact the territorial waters of both states, is to the north of this strait, passing it is on the Sea of Azov to the point on the coast which goes to the land border and so on to the tripoint with Belarus to the north. The Russia–Ukraine border has the biggest number of border checkpoints in Ukraine.[citation needed]
A treaty on the demarcation of the common border between the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia was signed on 17 May 2010 and came into force on 29 July of the same year.[31] At that time, Ukraine intended to start work on the demarcation of the border upon ratification of the agreement by the respective governments, but ratification was not completed. However 16 June 2014 the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine ordered the government to carry out a one-side demarcation of the border "in terms of existing threats to national security"; amidst the worst fighting of the2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.[31]
As of May 2015, a walled defense system was under construction along the Russian border in Kharkiv Oblast.[3] The project was planned to be finished in 2018.[33] In June 2020 the State Border Guard of Ukraine expected that the project would be finished by 2025. However, construction work on the wall was stopped when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.[34]
Land-based border checkpoints
Checkpoints over the state border of Ukraine and the border with the Russian Federation as of 26 February 2015[update][35]
Ukrainian side (Hoptivka) of the land crossing with Russia's Nekhoteyevka in May 2010Russian side (Nekhoteyevka) of the land crossing with Ukraine's Hoptivka in May 2010
Sevastopol, while containing a naval base of the Black Sea Fleet of Russian Federation, there were no borders demarcated within the city. Instead, the whole city was granted the special status and without a full-fledged mayor position.[39]
Local border traffic
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(May 2018)
Since 16 March 2015, the Russia-Ukraine local border traffic agreement was unilaterally terminated by Ukraine citing national security.[40]
On 24 March 2015, the Ukrainian side informed that Russia temporarily froze the local border traffic within the territory of Kharkiv, Sumy and Luhansk regions of Ukraine adjacent to Belgorod and Voronezh regions of the Russian Federation. Local BCPs[clarification needed] "Zhuravlivka" and "Oleksandrivka" (Kharkiv region) were exceptions.[41]
.svg)
.svg)
