Strengthening the fight against environmental crime should be a priority of criminal policy – Zelenskyi

Strengthening the fight against environmental crime should be one of the key priorities of criminal policy.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi stressed this in a video address recorded for a joint meeting of heads of law enforcement and other state bodies on compliance with environmental legislation, combating criminal offenses against the environment.

According to the President, today the decline of quality of air, drinking water, and food is an urgent problem that harms life expectancy, morbidity, and this issue worries the entire world.

Zelenskyi reminded of the environmental disaster from illegal amber mining and noted that several steps had already been taken to legalize mining and prosecute illegal miners.

"However, there's still insufficient information on punishments for high-profile crimes in this field, especially those committed by organized groups. I'd also like to hear what has been done to restore the forest lands, which have turned into a desert because of barbaric amber hunting," Volodymyr Zelenskyi added.

The President noted that in 2019 he had signed a law banning continuous coupe on the mountain slopes of the Carpathian region.

"But citizens haven't received adequate information about the eliminated criminal schemes in timber circulation yet, including the involved officials' planting. The fight against smuggling of timber across the customs border of Ukraine is also weak," the President said.

The Head of State also focused on the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, where the unprecedented process of self-restoration of natural complexes inherent in this territory in the past has been going on for 30 years without human intervention.

"The scale and public danger of environmental crime require law enforcement and other government agencies to work at 200 percent of their capacity. Strengthening the fight against environmental offenses should be one of the key priorities of criminal policy," the President stressed.

The President reminded of his words at the UN General Assembly that the world had no spare planet.

"I can tell you today: we do not have a spare Ukraine. It should be flourishing, picturesque, with beautiful forests, clean seas, rivers, lakes, and clean air, which the next generations of Ukrainians will breathe freely. And everyone preventing this–from criminals to civil servants who cover them–should look at the clear Ukrainian sky through the bars," Volodymyr Zelenskyi summed up.