The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed sanctions against the country’s “top smugglers” at its meeting on April 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.
The sanctions freeze the assets of 10 individuals. According to the sources of the Ukrainska Pravda news website, the decision also targets 68 associated companies.
Ukraine suffers losses of Hr 300 billion yearly because of smuggling, third of which is lost due to the ineffective customs work, according to Zelensky.
Ukrainska Pravda reports that the sanction list includes Vadym Alperin from the southern Black Sea port city of Odesa referred to as “the king of smuggling” and Lviv “crime boss” Volodymyr Didukh among others.
The list of sanctioned companies includes 11 Russian firms, according to Ukrainska Pravda. One of them is Rossotrudnichestvo, a Russian federal government agency for administering civilian foreign aid and cultural exchange.
In a video address published on April 2, Zelensky said that this is just the beginning of the fight against smuggling in Ukraine, as more individuals involved will be sanctioned.
The security and defense council’s decision also targeted local customs officials who may be involved in corrupt practices. As a result, Ukraine’s State Customs Service said on April 2 it had suspended more than 100 of its employees, including 17 heads of customs and customs checkpoints.
Zelensky and the council have been on a roll imposing sanctions on corrupt officials. Since early February, the council has imposed severe sanctions on those either considered untouchable or who have been left mostly unscathed by Ukraine’s judicial system.
On Feb. 2, the council issued personal sanctions against pro-Kremlin lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk’s closest ally, lawmaker Taras Kozak and his three nationwide TV channels — NewsOne, Channel 112 and ZIK, which aired Kremlin propaganda about Ukraine.
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On Feb. 19, the council imposed sanctions against Medvedchuk, the leader of a pro-Kremlin party Opposition Platform – For Life and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Medvechuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko.
On March 19, the council imposed individual sanctions against ousted pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych and a handful of Yanukovych-era officials, including ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
