Corruption schemes in Ukraine's ports have not been abolished. But they are being terrorized in a new way.
Less than a month has passed since the outrageous fact of yet another “war” unleashed by Ukrainian customs in seaports was made public.
And again…
…The meat hasn't yet returned to the sender who risked sending his cargo through our "wonderful transit country" Ukraine (it's already become known that "transit meat that ends up in a combat zone" must be sent back).
The bills have not yet been fully collected and the losses of the Ukrainian forwarders who took on this work have not been calculated, and instead of receiving several hundred dollars in income, they received tens of thousands of euros in losses.
The promises of the highest customs authorities to investigate and publicly "execute" those responsible for unleashing military action against Ukraine's transport sector have not yet cooled, and the ATO (Anti-Transit Operation from Ukrainian customs) is filled with reports of military action.
First, the "little green men" infiltrated the relatively peaceful port area. They were real! They wore green uniforms, and they had a wild appearance and behavior. It turns out that the customs services responsible for combating smuggling and drug trafficking were transferred from the Customs Service to the Ukrainian Fiscal Service this summer. And then the attacks began, one after another...
"Little green men" from the OBK and OBKN, with unclear powers, are stopping transit and export cargo, bombarding import containers with inspections, and literally terrorizing freight forwarders at ports. These are the same ports where freight forwarders have already been effectively forced to pay tens of millions of hryvnias for using a computer program for contactless communication with all regulatory agencies (including customs).
Naturally, with the promise of complete transparency and total contactlessness. But the "little green men" are operating at the ports with all their might, brazenly, and exclusively by contact—all without regard for these programs.
It was they, the civil servants of who knows whose subordination, who imposed a system where, after all the electronic approvals of over-hyped and over-priced computer programs, cargo owners have to print out various "papers" over and over again and go "bow down" to these port terrorists sent by who knows who.
From the chronicle of military operations. On the morning of September 5th, the Southern Customs Office, along with ports and freight forwarders, held another meeting to "facilitate work." They discussed in detail our "high-profile incident" with transit meat, vowing that it was an isolated incident, that it would never happen again, and that those responsible would be immediately punished and recalled from the ports.
But before the ink had even dried on the report, a few hours later, news arrived of a complete halt to cargo flows to Transnistria by the "little green men from the OBK." The cargo again included meat, detergents, and spare parts. Again, persistent demands to come and personally "resolve issues." Again, these "little green men" with unclear powers and unruly behavior.
Naturally, this is done on Friday, since in anticipation of long periods of downtime for vehicles and containers over the weekend, freight forwarders are much more accommodating in "resolving issues" with customs officials.
I'm trying to figure this out. On Saturday, I got through to the assistant to the head of the entire Ukrainian customs service and described the conflict. As a result, some of the cargo was processed. But not all—some is still stuck.
On Tuesday, September 9, the next customs officials will arrive in Odessa under the leadership of the head of the service, A.V. Makarenko.
I ask the servicemen a question:
— Why are you slowing down transit? Where did the “little green men” come from?
- But this is not our subordination...
- Whose?
— They report directly to the fiscal service in Kyiv…
— What do they do in the ports then?
— We don’t know…
I'm trying to find out at the Southern Customs Office:
— Who are the anti-smuggling services subordinate to?
— We need to quickly...
- What does it mean?
- Well, with us they only get a salary...
— And what about submission?
- This is not for us...
— Do they have job descriptions?
- Eat…
— Do they say they can stop cargo for weeks and prevent documents from being processed?
- Not…
The circle is closing. The "hybrid war" in Ukraine's ports continues.
In recent years, the prosecutor's office has reported that hundreds of thousands of containers have been inspected at ports, hundreds of thousands of trucks weighed—while the efficiency of such titanic customs work is ABOUT ONE PERCENT! Forwarders have been forced to hand over hundreds of millions of hryvnias to private companies to handle the customs weighing and inspection chaos at ports. The state is wasting money on maintaining the "little green men" who "harass" the ports, and nothing has changed.
I personally wrote a dozen articles about the "killing of transit" through Ukraine, appealing to port authorities, the Ministry of Transport, and customs—but under the new government, everything continues as it did under the old one. Perhaps anti-corruption forums have recently become fashionable.
With the participation of the heads of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), customs, and various government officials. Personally, at these forums, I ask questions clearly and specifically, directly to the officials in charge: "When will you stop bullying us? When can we work normally?" The responses are general statements: "Don't give bribes," "...go to court...," "...but soon we'll change..."
And nothing changes!
On September 9th, the head of the Customs Service, A. Makarenko, posted on his Facebook page about the seizure of a record-breaking shipment of contraband flowers, cones, and flower bulbs at a Western customs office! Half a truckload of plants was added to the customs clearance "thanks to the vigilance and honesty of his colleagues" of Mr. A.V. Makarenko. What a stunning seizure!
That same day, I received reports that during this incredibly significant day, as part of the "customs ATO," nearly a hundred container ships had been inspected and weighed at ports, at Ukrainian taxpayers' expense, to no avail. The average clearance time in Illichivsk was seven hours. Seven hours to clear a truck carrying transit cargo! In that time, a long-haul truck can travel from the port to Kyiv, while the trucks sit idle and undergo clearance at port customs… seven hours—on average…
The news about flowers and pine cones is certainly more worthy of the attention of the entire customs service... Consider the "scale"...
And A.V. Makarenko "stunned" Odessa transport workers with another piece of news while in Odessa. This was the return of citizen S.N. Semka to a leadership position in the customs service. What is this? A blatant slap in the face of those transport workers who have not yet been destroyed since the active trio of Derivolkov, Dorokhovsky, and Semka? And yet, it was precisely this citizen-official to whom Odessa transport workers were forwarding "hot" reports from the ports three years ago. And I have personally repeatedly asked for help in ending the gigantic traffic jams for trucks and their downtime at the ports. And in response, I have been met with laughter and ridicule...
And yet I repeat once again:
For Ukraine to remain a civilized transit country, customs must do the following:
1. Immediately change the format and forms of control at ports and transfer all actual customs control functions to the customs offices of final destination within the country. For transit, only entry and exit control.
2. Immediately disband the dozens of departments within customs that are completely harmful to the state and that simply profit from customs value, weight, invoices, certification, and so on. In reality, they're simply hiding behind these fine-sounding terms to perpetuate Azarov-Kaletnik-style corruption.
3. Send thousands of pseudo-customs officers to the ATO zone, who are currently terrorizing businesses at checkpoints under the guise of government service—with a real success rate of about one percent. Let these "little green men" who "terrorize" the ports fight for the freedom of our Motherland there. Then we will appreciate their heroism and effectiveness.
All these changes in customs work don't require parliamentary action, new laws, or anything else. They require ministerial efforts aimed at reform. That's all.
If A. Makarenko, the head of Ukrainian customs, is truly focused on achieving results for the country, for its citizens, for the states, and not on searching for smuggling "bigwigs" every six months at some checkpoint, then he must accept this challenge. Or resign.
A. Makarenko seems to be taking a long time to implement reforms, so he can talk his way through any changes... Replacing customs chiefs with former, "quasi-system" officials isn't a reform, but a travesty and a real state crime. What other changes and reforms are planned?
Another replacement of the acting head of the Southern Customs Office, effective September 15th? Incidentally, the sixth since the beginning of the year... Again, for just over a month? A major breakthrough, a significant result, almost a reform!
Ukrainian transport workers do not deserve the "active phase of the ATO" in ports, they do not deserve the return of the "best sons" of the previous system to lucrative positions in customs, and they do not deserve the continuation of the agony of the Soviet customs system.
I'm tired of the tired Azarov-era mantras about smuggling among transport workers, which have been echoed by customs officials of all stripes for 20 years now. There's no smuggling among transport workers, because there aren't hundreds of criminal cases. Instead, there are hundreds of thousands, millions of ineptly implemented controls (inspections, weighings) to detect God knows what. This hurts importers, transport workers, state budget revenues, and the state's international prestige, while official corruption stifles civil society.
"To be frank about the main thing": if smuggling does exist, it is completely under the control of the highest customs and government officials themselves. Other types of smuggling have been nonexistent in Ukraine for many years—it's not allowed! All the evidence has long been "in the studio."
War, elections, re-elections to various councils, and so on are no excuse for the lack of change in such an important public service as customs. Customs reforms must be carried out without regard for elections, but with a focus on business and the interests of Ukrainian citizens. For the sake of their future. By breaking stereotypes and decisively getting rid of the previous, incredibly corrupt staff. After six months of customs "reforms," this hasn't happened—to the great disappointment of Ukrainians.
The ATO—an anti-transit, anti-state operation in ports—continues. Ukraine's customs service has now formed a united front against Ukraine. Apparently, in full force.
—
Alexander Zakharov, coordinator of the "NO Corruption in Transport" movement, especially for the Argument publication
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