State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus

State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus
Дзяржаўны пагранічны камітэт Рэспублікі Беларусь; Государственный пограничный комитет Республики Беларусь
	Flag of the Border Guard Service
	Emblem of the State Border Guard Service
Public Service overview
Formed	September 20, 1991
Preceding Public Service	Soviet Border Troops;
Jurisdiction	Armed Forces of Belarus
Headquarters	24 Volodarsky Street, Minsk, Belarus
Minister responsible	Major General Viktor Khrenin, Minister of Defense;
Public Service executive	Major General Anatoly Lappo, Chairman of the Committee;
Child Public Service	Border Guard Service of Belarus; Border Guard Service Institute of Belarus;
Website	gpk.gov.

One of the buildings of the committee in Minsk

The State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus, GPK (Belarusian: Дзяржаўны пагранічны камітэт Рэспублікі Беларусь, ДПК; Russian: Государственный пограничный комитет Республики Беларусь, ГПК) manages the international borders of Belarus. Its armed paramilitary force is known as the Border Guard Service (Belarusian: Пагранічная Служба Беларусі; Russian: Пограничная служба Беларуси), It carries out committee orders and policy. The service covers the borders with Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.^[1]^[2]

History[]

The Border Committee was created by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus on September 20, 1991. To manage the border units and subunits, the General Directorate of the Border Troops (Russian: Главное управление пограничных войск was established by order of the Supreme Soviet on January 15, 1992 under the Council of Ministers. To create a legal basis for their activities, the Supreme Council adopted Law No. 1908-XII “On the State Border of the Republic of Belarus”, and Law No. 1911-XII “On the Border Troops of the Republic of Belarus” on November 4–5, 1992. On August 19, 1993, a law was adopted by the Council of Ministers decree on the official creation of the Border Troops of Belarus. Between 1994 and 1997, the first border units were formed/deployed and agreements were made between Belarus' neighbors on cooperation between the border troops of Belarus and neighboring countries. On 11 January 1997 President Lukashenko signed decree renaming the General Directorate to State Committee of the Border Troops. In a September 2007 decree, President Alexander Lukashenko renamed the Border Troops of Belarus to the Border Service.^[3]

On September 18, 2020, the committee announced it had tightened border security with Poland and Lithuania, calling up reserves to patrol the borders although Poland and Lithuania said their borders with Belarus remained open.^[4]

After the start of the Belarus–EU border crisis, the leadership of the State Border Committee, including its chairman Lappo, was included in the sanctions lists of the European Union,^[5] the United States^[6] and Canada^[7]^[8] on December 2, 2021. Switzerland joined the EU sanctions on December 20.^[9]

Tasks[]

Primary tasks of the State Border Committee include:^[10]

Border policy
Enhancing border security
Organization
Management

The Border Service of Belarus has 14 territorial units under its control.

Structure[]

Brest Border Group
Lida Border Detachment
Smorgon border group
Grodno Border Group
Gomel Border Group
Pinsk Border Detachment
Polotsk Border Detachment
Mozyr Border Detachment
OPOGK "Minsk"
Dzerzhinsk Logistics Group
Communications and Support Team
Institute of Border Service
Border Guard Military Hospital

Border Service Institute[]

Border Service Institute headquarters in Minsk

The Border Service Institute is the official training service of the GPK and is a higher educational institution in the Republic. The institute was founded in August 1993 in accordance with a Resolution of the Council of Ministers on the basis of the Minsk Higher Military-Political-Arms School.

Leadership[]

General Directorate of Border Troops of the Republic of Belarus[]

Yevgeny Bocharov (February 19, 1992 - August 30, 1994)
Vasily Morkovkin (September 26, 1994 - September 4, 1996)
Alexander Pavlovsky (September 4, 1996 - January 13, 1997)

State Committee of the Border Troops[]

Alexander Pavlovsky (January 13, 1997 - April 10, 2007)
Igor Rachkovsky (April 10, 2007 - September 27, 2007)