Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg became a site for two-day anti-fissile and radioactive material trafficking maneuvers known as the Border-2007. The maneuvers were conducted within the framework of Russian-American Second Line of Defense Program. Some authorities and heads of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, Ural Customs Administration, and Koltsovo airport customs as well as representatives of local divisions of Rospotrebnadzor and Rostechnadzor (the state consumer rights and environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdogs), experts from the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs, Russian Federation Ministry of Emergencies, the Federal Security Service, the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense, and workers of Koltsovo airport and fissile and radioactive material-monitoring agents took part in the event. The representatives of the U.S. Ministry of Energy and customs officers from the Republic of Kazakhstan were invited to be there as independent observers, the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports.

The Border-2007 aimed to check how coordinated the actions of Koltsovo airport customs’ authorities are when trying to prevent illegal trafficking of fissile and radioactive materials while handling the legal export and import of these materials. Then, it was important to make sure the equipment used for radiation control was effective and to see if the customs authorities could productively interact with the local government and departments of emergencies in case some illegal trafficking attempt was detected.

Upon the end of the first day of maneuvers, Director of Second Line of Defense Program Tracy Proctor spoke very highly of the local customs officers’ professionalism, training, and skills and said they were well prepared for emergencies of such sort.