UNITED STATES TRANSFERS EQUIPMENT TO UKRAINIAN STATE BORDER GUARDS IN COOPERATIVE EFFORT TO STEM SPREAD OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Odessa – Representatives from the governments of the United States and Ukraine today officially marked the transfer of $1.89 million in equipment to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. The transfer is part of the U.S.-Ukraine Cooperative Threat Reduction program's Weapons of Mass Destruction-Proliferation Prevention Initiative or WMD-PPI, which is designed to bolster Ukraine's capabilities to prevent proliferation of WMD and related materials and technologies, and thus deny terrorists access to them.

On the U.S. side the program is run by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the Department of Defense, represented at today’s event by William Smith, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Office of the United States Embassy in Ukraine. The U.S. Department of Defense has partnered in this effort with the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service and the State Customs Service of Ukraine.

“The equipment you see on display here today has been transferred to the State Border Guard Service to support the Ukraine-Moldova Border Proliferation Prevention Project,” Mr. Smith said at the ceremony. “It will significantly enhance surveillance, detection, interdiction, response, and communications capabilities.” The equipment includes: night-vision devices, binoculars, global positioning receivers, and radios. The United States also provided minivans, jeeps, motorcycles, and automobiles to enhance the State Border Guard Service’s mobility, especially along Ukraine's extensive green borders.

The equipment transfer is part of a multi-pronged strategy, which includes assessment and development of State Border Guard and Custom Services’ tactics, techniques, procedures, doctrine, and concepts of operations to enhance their effectiveness in WMD detection and interdiction missions. The program also provides extensive training at all levels of the two organizations.

Mr. Smith praised the work of SBGS General Lytvyn and his staff. “Very clearly, Ukraine and the world are safer today because of their efforts,” he said.