Since the beginning of 2016, Ukrainian border guards began to receive cash support at the level of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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About it told in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency the head of the State Border Service of Ukraine, Viktor Nazarenko, who called this the main achievement of his department.
“Our most important achievement this year is that, on the initiative of the President of Ukraine, with the support of the government and individual parliamentarians, since May, border guards began to receive monetary support at the level of the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The difference is noticeable. Last year, the minimum salary was 2200 UAH, and now it’s 7000 thousand. The minimum cash security has more than tripled,” he says.
According to the head of the department, increasing salaries gives grounds to require people to work efficiently and leads to a reduction in the outflow of personnel, and is also a good factor in the context of the fight against bribery.
“Today, the head of a border detachment receives 16 thousand UAH, the head of a department - 11550 UAH, a senior inspector - about 10 thousand, a junior inspector - 7800 UAH, and a newcomer who has just joined the service - 7 thousand UAH. This concerns the peaceful border. And if we talk about military personnel in the ATO zone, through bonuses they receive exactly the same salary as army personnel, national guardsmen and others since February of this year,” said Viktor Nazarenko.
According to him, the needs of the border service are great, so work is now underway to make changes to the budget of the State Border Service.
“There are already relevant presidential orders and government decisions, and there are bills from deputies to increase the department’s expenses. I hope that people’s deputies will support us,” said the chief Ukrainian border guard.
Nazarenko also praised “foreign partners” for helping the border service with machinery and equipment.
“For example, just last year they provided us with machinery and equipment worth one fifth of our budget - that’s about 1 billion UAH,” he boasts.
According to the head of the department, the improvement in the material support of the border service has led to an increase in the number of people wishing to sign up for a contract.
“This year, we accepted about 4 thousand military personnel for military service, since there were no other options to increase the number of employees with the available resources, and also to prevent a decrease in the readiness of our units. But due to the fact that border guards’ salaries have been raised and this has led to an increase in the number of contract soldiers, most likely we will abandon this practice and will no longer conscript conscripts in the fall,” he admitted