FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL AND LEGAL PROTECTION OF BORDER GUARDS

Abstract

The research article investigates the history of establishment and formation of the modern State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the SBGSU) from the Early Middle Ages to the present, as well as the following genesis of social and legal soldiers’ protection issues on the territory of modern Ukraine. The historical development of social and legal protection, availability of benefits and incentives, and other types of support for border guards have been analysed. There are stages of formation and development of social and legal protection of persons, who have been involved in the protection of borders on the territory of Ukrainian lands for centuries, highlighted. Such persons were recruited both voluntarily from the local residents, soldiers based on ethnic and territorial affiliation, and from representatives of nomadic peoples, other states and military structures (mercenaries) for payment, their receiving benefits/ compensations, which made it possible to expand the military potential and defence capability of state territorial boundaries. And already at the stage of development of modern democratic, social, and legal Ukrainian state, in which it is constitutionally determined that the highest social value is a person, the social and legal protection of military personnel becomes a primary focus for the state's activities. The features of encouragement, motivation, social and legal protection benefits elements, which were inherent in each historical period and stage of the formation of Ukrainian statehood, were established. At the same time, material incentives or the provision of legal guarantees and benefits directly depended on the level of economic capabilities of the state, human resources, geographically favourable location of the land territories and military potential of the country, and served as a kind of guarantor for the persons who performed the functions of protecting the state borders in each of the historical stages considered by us. It has been proven that the existence of a state requires the protection of its borders by both motivated individuals from the local population, social cultures of other states or military formations, who were granted certain benefits, privileges, compensations, and guarantees of social and legal protection by the same state, which has been an inherent and necessary element since time immemorial, and its own regular army, border guards within the borders.