SOVIET MARITIME BORDER GUARD (MPO)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000300260008-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2013
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: March 18, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/26: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300260008-2
SECRET
50X1
COUNTRY USSR
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR.
SUBJECT Soviet Maritime Border Guard (MPO) NO. OF PAGES 2
DATE OF INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRED
50X1
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REFERENCES:
50X1
SOURCE
50X1
1. Wherever the territory of the USSR was bordered by water (White
Sea, Barents Sea, Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, Caspian
Sea, Baltic Sea) there was a Maritime Border Guard (Morskaya 50:00
Togranichnaya Okhrana MPO) unit. in
Kalvaria Al 54-25 B 23-157 50X1
MPO units in the Lithuanian
Border District. 5ee page 9, para. 10b 50:00
2. On the Staff of the Main Administration (Main Directorate) of
Border Troops, there was a naval officer, whose rank I did not
know, who was the ranking officer of the MPO.
3. Wherever the territory of a border district touched the sea, a
"division" (naval equivalent of a battalion) of the MPO was assigned
to, and subordinate to the border district CG. The border didtrict
CG could attach parts of the MPO division to detachments. There
were nd MPO units attached to battalions.
In the Lithuanian SSR Border District (which included also parts
of Latvian SSR and parts of what was formerly East Prussia), an
MPO division, numerical designation and FPN unknown to me, was
attached to the 8th Border Detachment stationed in Ventpils
Zitr 57-24, E 21-37. Either another MPO division, or part of the
same MPO division was attached to the 23rd Border Detachment sta-
tioned in Klaipeda 55-43, E 21-0/7. These MPO units patrolled
the entire Baltic coast, from the Polish Border up to Estonia.
gate of information, 1951.J
I ;?
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/26: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300260008-2
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/26: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300260008-2
SECRET
- 2 -
50:00
In Estonia there were MPO units attached to the Leningrad Border
District.
I have DO knowledge of NPO T/0 & E, other than that I?know from
hearsay that a division was the highest unit of the MPO and had
300-400 officers and EM. I cannot give further strength or unit
breakdown of an NPO division.
An MPO division had cutters of the MO type (Morskoy Okbotnik)
(Naval speedboat). I believe, but am not sure, that they were the
Malyy Morskoy Okhotnik (Small Naval Speedboat) type. I do not
know how many boats were in a division and have rn knowledge of
the crew, individual weapons, or the weapons aboard the speedboats.
MPO officers and EM wore naval uniforms and had naval ranks. I
can not describe their uniforms and shoulder boards except to state
that shoulder boards of officers and EM had green piping. I know
of no Border Troop schools for MPO officers or EM and presume that
MPO naval officers were sent to regular Border Guard schools to
train in border guard duties, in addition to previous naval training.
The function of the MPO was to protect USSR territory. They had
to see that no enemy agents, or saboteurs landed in USSR, and that
no traitors from the USSR defected to other countries via the seas.
10. As far as any evidence of extent of cooperation between MPO and
Pogranichnykh Voysk, the MPO was subordinate to the Border District
CG and cooperated fully with local border troops Wherever USSR
territory bordered on water, tall wooden towers (up to 50 m. in
height) were erected at locations with a good field of vision. Land
(regular border guards) personnel manned these towers and observed
the seas. Whenever they noticed a suspicious or alien fishing
boat, military naval craft, wreckage of an airplane, a raft, etc.,
the border guard in the tower called his company CO or OD, who then
contacted the NPO headquarters. A cutter was dispatched to inves-
tigate and to escort the craft to port for further investigation.
Wherever MPO guards were utilized, fewer Border Guards were used in
the same area; that is, no foot or mounted patrols were sent out.
The USSR territory along the seacoast was guarded by Border Guards
in towers, and by units of the MPO. I do not know to what distance
from the coast the sea was considered to be off limits territory.
go further information...7
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/09/26: CIA-RDP82-00046R000300260008-2