| 9 June 2009 A solemn ceremony of delivery of 20 most modern portable IR imagers, which will promote higher efficiency of surface situation monitoring in the Black Sea, took place 5 June at the Sevastopol border post of the Sea Guard of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (Balaklava city). Present at the ceremony were Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, Head of the European Commission’s Delegation to Ukraine; Oleksandr Melnykov, Deputy Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine; embassy heads of some EU countries, representatives of international organizations, public, and journalists. This event completed implementation of a bilateral cooperation program between the Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the European Commission’s Delegation to Ukraine in the framework of a project of international technical assistance to improve border management in Ukraine having total budget of EUR 15 million. During implementation of the project, units of all regional departments of the Ukrainian border guard agency have received 287 special portable IR monitoring devices. This hi-tech equipment will promote introduction of a new approach to organization of protection of Ukraine’s state border and creation of an integrated border management system. An IR imaging device made by Jenoptik and meeting best world analogs in terms of parameters was designed specially for Ukrainian border guards. The imager is intended for border protection and for security tasks. It is equipped with a laser distance meter to determine distance to objects as well as with a binocular viewfinder. These facilities allow recognizing a car at 7 km distance in the daylight and 3 m in the night. A man can be seen with the help of this device at 5 km even in the nighttime. Cooperation between the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the European Commission’s Delegation to Ukraine is an example of efficient interaction to counteract to cross-border crime and illegal migration. It demonstrates common approaches to maintaining border security at the state border.
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