State Border Service of Turkmenistan

The State Border Service (SBS) (Turkmen: Döwlet Serhet Gullugy, DSG; Russian: Государственная пограничная служба, ГПС) also commonly known by its paramilitary force as the Turkmen Border Troops (Turkmen: Türkmenistan Serhet Garawul; Russian: Туркменские пограничные войска) is a border guard agency of the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan. It is currently a public service department of the government of the country and is under the command of the Ministry for National Security of Turkmenistan.
History.
The service was established on August 11, 1992, by order of President Saparmurat Niyazov, on the basis of the Soviet Border Troops in the Turkestan Military District. Until 1997, the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan included the Border Troops of the Ministry of Defense, which were then transformed into the State Border Service. It cooperated with Russian border guards who remained in country until 1999 as a result of a joint Russian-Turkmen agreement on the protection of the state border of Turkmenistan, which was signed in 1993. It slowly evolved to meet the standards of its counterparts, with the DSG being allowed to inspect goods and other items transported across the border of Turkmenistan in April 1998. At the end of 2001, 3 new border detachments were created, with 2 (in Kushka and Köýtendag), being intensified the cover of the Afghan border to prevent Taliban fighters from taking refuge in the country during the War in Afghanistan. Recently, the service created a separate naval border patrol division stationed in Turkmenbashi. In 2014, there were several incidents for the service along the Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border, including one in February when Turkmen border guards killed a militant who crossed the border illegally and in retaliation three Turkmen border guards were killed later that month. Later that May, three Turkmen guards were killed by an armed group crossing the border from Ghormach District, Afghanistan.
Responsibilities.
The main tasks of the service include the following:
The head of the service is a member of the Council of Border Guard Commanders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Breastplate "Valiant Border Guard".
The Breastplate "Valiant Border Guard" is the state medal designed to honour members of the DSG. It consists of medals in both the first and second degrees. It has the shape of a regular green octagon, which is one of the main elements of the State Emblem of Turkmenistan, inscribed in an circle with a diameter of 40 mm. It was created on 20 December 2005.