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Frontex Sends 15 Vessels, 290 Officers to Help Greece Manage Migrant Inflow

© REUTERS / Alkis KonstantinidisFile Photo: Refugees and migrants jump off an inflatable raft as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos, November 11, 2015
File Photo: Refugees and migrants jump off an inflatable raft as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos, November 11, 2015 - Sputnik International
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EU border agency Frontex has initiated the deployment of 15 vessels with 293 personnel to the Greek islands as part of a new operation after Athens requested additional assistance at its external borders amid the refugee influx, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The so-called Poseidon Rapid Intervention operation is due to replace the Joint Operation Poseidon Sea with a higher number of officers, according to Frontex. The deployed personnel will assist the Greek authorities in identifying and fingerprinting arriving migrants, as well as providing interpreters and forged document experts.

"Poseidon Rapid Intervention aims to provide Greece with additional technical assistance aiming to strengthen its border surveillance, registration and identification capacity," Frontex said in a statement.

Refugees and migrants walk after disembarking from the passenger ferry Eleftherios Venizelos from the island of Lesbos at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, December 26, 2015 - Sputnik International
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The number of personnel deployed will gradually increase to 400, as well as additional vessels and other technical equipment to assist Greece in the management of the "unprecedented migratory pressure," it was added in the statement.

Over 1.55 million illegal border crossings have been detected by Frontex since the beginning of 2015. At least 800,000 of them arrived in Greece from Turkey via the Aegean Sea.

Greece requested assistance from Frontex to protect its borders in the Aegean Sea earlier in December. Frontex called on EU member states to contribute 775 border guards to the effort.

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