Ukraine Begins Patrols of Border With Russia’s Crimea

MOSCOW, April 3 (RIA Novosti)

Ukrainian border guards have begun patrolling the country's new boundary with Russia north of Crimea, the Ukrainian Border Service announced Thursday.

The head of Ukraine's State Border Service, Nikolay Litvin, said that border guards had earlier evacuated equipment from Crimea, which will be deployed to enhance border security at the new patrol areas.

The Berdyansk border guard detachment and the newly created Kherson border guard detachment have joined the Azov-Black Sea Regional Directorate, he said.

A referendum on Crimean reunification with Russia was held last month and saw over 96 percent of voters chose to rejoin Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later issued a decree on the integration of the Black Sea peninsula, and signed a law on the formation of two new Russian constituent territories: the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.

Ukraine's Western-backed interim government still considers Crimea to be part of Ukraine.