Russia Opens New Crossing Facility on Border With Ukraine

Russia opened a new border crossing facility on the border with Ukraine, which officials called an signal of Russia's peaceful intentions.

Russia has opened a new border crossing facility on the Ukrainian border, in what officials have called a signal of friendly intentions.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was present at the opening of the new border crossing facility. The facility is located in Graivoron, which is in Russia's Belgorod region, across the border from Ukraine's Sumy region.

"Lately there are increasingly frequent calls from the brotherly country on whose border we built this installation that Russia is unfriendly, that we are attacking. But we show that we are building installations that help provide for the flow of citizens and all of this is aimed at peaceful dreams and hopes," Konstantin Busygin, the head of Russia's border facilities agency, said.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that although relations at the border crossing have changed over the past year, Russia is working to improve the situation with the flow of goods and people.

"The current situation in Ukraine has changed the life of border crossings on the Russian-Ukrainian border. Right now most of the people crossing it are Ukrainian citizens while the flow of goods and freights has reduced," the regional customs office's press service said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry sent the Ukrainian government invitations to attend the ceremony, but they were unanswered.