Militant youth on stage as FSB Border Guards in Nikel celebrate 85 years anniversary
Young warriors from a local militaristic organisation performed as the local FSB Border Guard service celebrated its 1940 establishment on annexed Finnish territory.
The cultural palace in Zapolyarny was packed with prominent leaders of the local security service. In the hall were also representatives of regional authorities in the Kola Peninsula.
"On today's border are not only new equipment and weapons, but also - and first of all - people capable of handling them [the equipment and weapons]," speaker of the Murmansk regional Duma Sergei Dubovoy said in an address to the FSB officials.
"Your service requires the utmost readiness, stamina and constant preparedness to confront new challenges and threats," the regional parliament leaders underlined.
Sergei Dubovoy is himself a military man. He graduated from the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg before he started a political career in the highly militarised Kola Peninsula.
The celebration in the Zapolyarny cultural palace was accompanied by performances from militant youth organisation Kolchuga. The youngsters from Kolchuga are known for their aggressive shows with weapons and uniforms. On the entertainment program was also a so-called 'unit of young border guards friends' from a school in Zapolyarny, the local government informs.
The local Border Guard department in the Pechenga area was established on occupied territory.
It's official day of establishment was March 17, 1940, when the Pechenga area - then called Petsamo - belonged to Finland. Following the Winter War of 1939, Finland was forced to cede parts of the Rybachii Peninsula and Sredny Peninsula to the USSR.
The border guard department, at the time called the 100th Nikel Border Unit, was established in Zapadnaya Ozerka, a small settlement in Sredny.
The Soviet border guards took an active part in the protection of Sredny and Rybachii following the Nazi German attack in 1941. In October 1944, the Red Army pushed Hitler's troops out of Petsamo and the whole area was subsequently annexed and incorporated in the Soviet Union.
The Federal Border Service was established as a separate government structure in 1993, but transferred to the FSB in 2003. The border guard unit in Nikel is part of the FSB Border Guard Department of Karelia.
The border guards based in Nikel patrol along the land border to Norway and Finland.
A big number of representatives of the FSB Border Guards are taking part in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
