FSB moves to abolish border zones between Russia and annexed Ukrainian territories

The Russian domestic security service, the FSB, has recommended abolishing border zones in the Rostov and Voronezh regions, as well as removing the border zone between the annexed Crimea and the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson Region. The proposed changes are detailed in draft agency orders obtained by the independent Russian publication Agentstvo.

FSB officials stated that the decision stems from the purported integration of the Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics," which are Russian-backed entities in eastern Ukraine, along with the Russian-occupied Kherson Region. Moscow maintains that it annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as Crimea, though these annexations are considered illegal and unrecognized by the international community.

It is worth noting that Russia has not held full military control over any of the annexed regions, except for Crimea.

The FSB intends to invalidate its previous orders that treated entry and exit from the regions annexed in 2022 as if they were crossing a state border. The drafts suggest that the changes are necessary due to the illegal annexation of Ukrainian regions being deemed "admitted into the Russian Federation," and their borders now forming a "state border adjoining the territory of a foreign state."

Consequently, border zones will now only apply to territories bordering the state border, rather than the previous administrative boundaries between Russian regions and annexed territories.

An exception is made for Crimea, where the border zone will persist but only "within the Black Sea islands belonging to the Russian Federation." The regional FSB branch will be tasked with designating specific entry points, hours, and installing warning signs in the newly defined border zones. While NATO does not anticipate an imminent Russian attack, the alliance has reported a buildup of Russian forces near its borders.