Not wearing a mask in public? That’ll cost you — and it’s not just an empty threat.
Since the Ukrainian government implemented small fines of roughly $6-9 for not wearing a face mask, authorities have issued 14,000 citations for mask violations in the past week.
All together, Ukrainians caught not wearing a mask in public transport or certain public places have paid Hr 465,000 (just under $16,700) into the state budget, according to a Dec. 14 statement by the President’s Office.
Since early in the pandemic, Ukraine had legislation allowing law enforcement to fine people for not wearing a mask in public. However, the old fines were excessively large, often clocking in at up to $620 dollars, nearly twice the average monthly salary in the country.
Additionally, after a police officer issued the violator a citation, the fine could only be imposed by a court ruling, making the process slow and ungainly.
Many judges were also hesitant to impose such financially ruinous fines, often letting violators off with a warning.
The end result was that only 3-5% of fines were actually imposed, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said in early November.
To rectify that situation, on Nov. 6, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law introducing smaller fines of Hr 170-225 ($6-9) that could be issued by police and local authorities without court involvement. President Volodymyr Zelensky later signed that bill into law.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which arrived in the country slowly thanks to a lockdown in March, the Ukrainian government has struggled to get ordinary citizens and businesses to enforce masking and social distancing.
Quarantine restrictions have also been unpopular for harming small businesses and threatening the employment of many Ukrainians.
This has made the government distinctly susceptible to public pressure. When entrepreneurs and regional leaders protested quarantine measures or refused to follow them, the central government often gave in and made concessions to them.
However, since late October, when new cases of COVID-19 rapidly increased from around 8,000 a day to a peak of 16,294 on Nov. 27, the government has been forced to take more decisive action.
Besides imposing new fines for not wearing a mask, the Ukrainian government also imposed a “weekend lockdown” and forced non-essential businesses to close down on Saturdays and Sundays for three weekends in November.
Now the government plans to impose a full lockdown across the country from Jan. 8 through Jan. 24 after the winter holidays end.
Read more: Ukraine to impose new lockdown on Jan. 8, after holidays
