In 2014, only 0.5% of all illegal border-crossings reported by EU Member States at the external borders took place at the 6 000-kilometre-long eastern borders of the EU, totalling 1 275.
Meanwhile, the economic downturn in Russia led to a decline in regular traffic flows at EU Member States’ borders with the country, with the weakening rouble reducing the number of Russian travellers and shoppers crossing the EU borders. This trend was the most pronounced near the end of last year.
In contrast to the EU’s borders with the Russian Federation, the number of travellers at the border with Ukraine has been growing despite the conflict in the eastern part of the country and the deteriorating economic situation in the region. The number of people who were refused entry reported by EU Member States at the eastern borders fell to almost 36 700 down from over 50 000 in 2013, although these still accounted for a third of all refusals at EU borders.
The falling value of the rouble and the Ukrainian hryvnia, which increased the price differences between the EU and its eastern neighbours, encouraged the smuggling of goods across EU’s eastern borders. The smuggling, particularly of cigarettes, occurred primarily through official border-crossing points (BCPs), although some took place at green borders (between BCPs). The methods used to bring goods across the border varied from the so-called ant smuggling through BCPs to the use of rafts on rivers to smuggle large amounts of cigarettes across the common borders. Even though 2014 was marked by fewer incidents, they involved larger amounts of smuggled illicit cigarettes.
The situation in Ukraine, the consequences of the economic crisis in Russia and its migration policy remain the most important uncertainties affecting the outlook for the region. So far the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on border security has remained limited, but it still is by far the most important source of current and future population movements in the region, considering that the number of internally displaced person in the country surpassed one million.