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Slovak police leave for border protection mission in Slovenia, Macedonia

Xinhua, February 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Slovakia is sending 20 police officers to Slovenia and another 25 to Macedonia to assist in protection of borders during the migration crisis, announced Prime Minister Robert Fico and Interior Minister Robert Kalinak on Wednesday.

"After the good experience and extraordinary results that our police officers and soldiers accomplished in these missions, further requests came in. Predominantly it's a repeat mission in Slovenia," pointed out Fico.

According to Fico, in the case of Macedonia it's protection of borders of a country that is not a European Union member nor a Schengen area member.

"It's an unprecedented move, but our decision to deploy the first 25 police officers show that we stand by our plan that when Greece is unable to protect its border, we have to protect some other border in order to prevent the inflow of illegal migrants to the EU," stressed Fico.

Kalinak said that the police officers being despatched have experience with such work and are equipped with standard police equipment and tools used for border monitoring such as thermographic cameras.

"This will be a new mission, the conditions will be more difficult, maybe it will be one of the most difficult missions. But I believe that the police officers are prepared," said Kalinak in reference to Macedonia. Endit