Speaker for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Oleh Slobodyan says almost 15,500 Russian citizens have crossed the Ukrainian border since the beginning of 2018 after a new biometric data monitoring system was launched, according to TV Channel 112 Ukraine.
Adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior Zoryan Shkiryak has announced that Ukraine is introducing biometric passport control for Russian citizens as of December 27, earlier than originally planned.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed Decree No. 256/2017 to enact a decision taken by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on July 10 to strengthen control over entry into Ukraine, departure of foreigners and stateless persons from Ukraine, their compliance with the rules of stay in Ukrainian territory, the presidential press service has reported.
Ukraine's State Border Service has reported that 1,471 people from Russia were refused entry into Ukraine in January-May 2017, according to the Ukrainian news portal Apostrophe.
A top aide to Vladimir Putin decides how the pro-Moscow administration of eastern Ukraine is run and who gets what jobs there, three former leaders of Russian-supported militants in Donbas said, challenging Kremlin denials that it calls the shots in the region, Reuters reports.