Ukrainian authorities have decided to ease the entry procedure for Russian citizens. As stated by the representative of the State Committee for Protection of the State Border of Ukraine, Lieutenant-General Anatoly Belyaev, from June 15 to December 1, 2003, "green corridors" will begin operating at Ukrainian borders. They can be used by all law-abiding Russian citizens who do not have goods in their luggage that are subject to declaration and taxation. At the same time, as Belyaev noted, drivers and passengers will not necessarily have to leave their cars. Ukrainian authorities have obliged border guards and customs officers to check documents and luggage of citizens directly in the traffic zone.
In the case of railway transport, checks will be carried out directly in the compartment and with the mandatory presence of the conductor. However, as Anatoly Belyaev reported, "trains bound for Crimea will still stop at Kazachya Lopan for at least 40 minutes." "But this is not related to border control. Such is the peculiarity of the railway schedule," added the Lieutenant-General.
Anatoly Belyaev also stressed that since June 1, the procedure for registering citizens traveling to Ukraine has changed. Until now, Ukrainian border guards stamped "Entry" - "Exit" marks on the penultimate page of a Russian national passport. This automatically made the document invalid, since any records and marks other than standard ones are prohibited by Russian legislation. "Today, both sides have introduced immigration cards (in Russia - migration cards), and the need to put such stamps in national passports has disappeared," the Lieutenant-General said. "Since June 1, Ukrainian border guards are prohibited from stamping internal Russian identity documents."
As Belyaev noted, a person entering the republic receives registration for free. Border guards have no right to demand any money for its processing. Such cards, according to the Lieutenant-General, were introduced at the end of last year, but until now they are not mandatory to fill out. In practice, only foreigners crossing the border by air could obtain them. Train conductors often not only did not have these forms, but had not even heard of their existence. And in accordance with international norms, any foreigner without a migration card is an illegal immigrant. However, as the Consul General of Ukraine in Moscow, Petro Matsarsky, admitted, no one has yet been fined for its absence.
Overall, the procedure for crossing the Ukrainian border has changed little. The real reason for introducing simplified border-crossing rules was the fight against corruption among Ukrainian border guards and customs officers. In one of the classified clauses of the new Regulation, it is said that officials are strictly forbidden to carry more than $10 in cash.
The resort season has so far been the period of the biggest "collections" at the Ukrainian borders. As Anatoly Belyaev said, "it happens that some overly hardworking border guards and customs officers, trying to earn extra money, go on shift outside the working schedule" and engage in extortion.
Now every representative of Ukraine's border and customs authorities is obliged to wear a name badge on the chest during work, without which his actions would be illegal. "In the event of unlawful behavior by an official at the Ukrainian border," concluded the Lieutenant-General, "I advise writing down his name, personal number and the time of crossing the border. And upon returning to Russia, contact the consular service of Ukraine with this data."