The governor of Transcarpathia demands answers from the Minister

Hennadiy Moskal calls on the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Kutovy to clarify and provide the public with the details of illegal logging in Transcarpathian region.

– If the Minister reports that in Transcarpathian region, according to satellite observations, 530 sites of illegal logging in the area of ​​774 hectares have been detected, the first question is when exactly was that logging done? – the head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration says. – Because in Transcarpathia, wood cutting and export was banned by my order even before the official ban on the export of logs, which came into force on November 1, 2015. Our region is the only one in Ukraine that does not export abroad even the fuel wood allowed for export.   

Also, it would be interesting to know what the situation with illegal logging is in other regions of Ukraine, that export trainloads of their wood abroad, and to do a comparative analysis on the basis of those data. And the most important thing is that the Minister of Agrarian Police is personally responsibile for the situation with illegal logging in Transcarpathian region, as the State Agency of Forest Resources, that controls forestries, is directly subordinate to Mr Kutovy. All our appeals to the Cabinet with a request to make departments of forest resources subordinate to regional state administrations (as it was before Yanukovych) remained unanswered.

As you know, yesterday the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine reported about the discovery of 530 sites of illegal logging in total area of 774.3 hectares in Transcarpathia.

– We have identified areas of legal logging and found out that when compared to the actual area of logging in Transcarpathian region, there are 530 sites of illegal logging in total area of ​​774.3 hectares – the head of the Ministry Taras Kutovy said on Wednesday during a meeting of the government.

He added that the analysis had been based on satellite observations, the available data are dated October 1.

Volodymyr Groysman said that this information should serve as grounds for investigation by law enforcement agencies.