Mykola Azarov and Arseniy Yatsenyuk
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment faces a difficult test. The transport agency is preparing to troll "environmentalists" by proposing a draft anti-corruption resolution from the Cabinet of Ministers, which even Azarov himself supported.
The Ministry of Infrastructure has prepared a draft Cabinet of Ministers resolution "On Amendments to the Rules for the Protection of Internal Marine Waters and the Territorial Sea of Ukraine from Pollution and Litter." This document (a Cabinet of Ministers resolution of February 29, 1996) has been paving the way for environmental officials to engage in lawless behavior for nearly 20 years.
We've written repeatedly about the extortion scheme related to segregated ballast control. Now, the Ministry of Infrastructure is proposing not only to bring the Marine Protection Regulations into line with the international Marpol Convention 73/78, but also to strip "environmentalists" of a number of powers. Incidentally, Ukraine is the only country in the world that violates this convention, and similar extortion schemes exist.
Particularly noteworthy is the Ministry of Infrastructure's proposal to strip the State Environmental Inspectorate of its authority to approve transhipment technologies for each type of cargo, "taking into account its harmful impact on people and the environment." This isn't like extorting $3-5 from a ship's captain for permission to haul segregated ballast. This is about coordinating multimillion-dollar projects to build new or reconstruct existing port terminals. And then, if anything goes wrong, violations of the "transhipment technology" can always be found.
The package of documents is currently being finalized and will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers in the coming days. But what's interesting is that this draft Cabinet of Ministers resolution and accompanying documents completely replicate (except for the dates, names of the initiators, and the prime minister who must sign it) the package approved on November 7, 2013, by Mykola Azarov's government. Essentially, this is the only anti-corruption resolution of the "government of professionals," which, however, was never implemented. Although it took almost a year to reach the point of "praise."
That same day, the Ministry of Infrastructure's press service released an optimistic statement about this decision. However, it turned out that this wasn't a decision, but merely an approval.
As recorded in the minutes of the Cabinet of Ministers meeting No. 63 of November 7, 2013: “Adopt a resolution... instructing the Ministry of Infrastructure, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Office of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, to finalize it within a week, taking into account the results of the discussion, in particular with regard to environmental monitoring of isolated ballast.”
Then came the Maidan, and in March-April 2014, this project was scuttled thanks to officials from Yatsenyuk's first government. The "ecologists" were primarily responsible. Apparently, the now-former Minister of Ecology, Andriy Mokhnik of the All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda," was pleased with the "predecessors'" schemes.
So, what's next? The Ministry of Infrastructure is submitting the same package of documents to the Cabinet of Ministers as it did under Azarov. According to our sources, the Ministry of Natural Resources is already expressing dissatisfaction. So far, it's only verbal and not public.
The draft must be approved by several agencies. Therefore, it will be interesting to compare the current positions with those under Azarov. Our editorial team has the entire 2013 package and will be sure to publish a comparison of the comments made by various agencies.
On the part of the Ministry of Infrastructure, this is simply another attempt to bring the regulatory framework into line with international conventions. But it looks like the Ministry of Natural Resources is being tested to see if nature will prevail.
I'd also like to add that a month has passed since the high-profile scandals at the Ilyichevsk port involving the Heilan Star and Alina vessels. The shipowners suffered significant losses, but none of the State Environmental Inspectorate inspectors have been punished.
The new Minister of Ecology, Ihor Shevchenko, so far seems quite sane. However, according to our information, he's merely a figurehead, while the "environmental protection" system is actually run by others. Evil tongues are circulating about former Party of Regions member (though they're never former) Oleksandr Onishchenko, who received Yulia Vladimirovna's personal blessing for this position.
Furthermore, sources within the Ministry of Natural Resources report a massive return to the system of former Ecology Minister Eduard Stavitsky's people—two-thirds of former advisers and officials in key departments within the agency.
In fact, the continued existence of one of the most corrupt and useless agencies will soon become a test for Ukraine's ability to effectively combat corruption.
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!