Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko have announced a crackdown on criminality in Odesa, a city of 1 million people 475 kilometers south of Kyiv.
Avakov, Lutsenko, and other top law enforcement officials paid a visit to Odesa on Dec. 4, where they spoke about the rise of violence in Odesa and said they want to “stop illegal businesses” that fund the criminals.
“Odesa in the last months became the criminal capital of Ukraine,” said Avakov.
For that purpose, Avakov said that law enforcement might do “painful and unpleasant checks” and might increase the police presence on the streets. The increase in security measures goes in line with martial law approved by the Ukrainian parliament and signed by President Petro Poroshenko on Nov. 27 in Odesa Oblast and nine other Ukrainian oblasts.
Lutsenko said he asked the governor of Odesa to order all construction sites in the city stopped so they can be checked and proven legal. The reason is that construction sited are often the source of controversy and violence, according to Lutsenko, and they are among the illegal businesses that fund and fuel violence.
The sites will be stopped within a week, according to Lutsenko. He didn’t specify how long the checks would take. His spokeswoman Larysa Sargan was unavailable for additional comments.
The meeting in Odesa followed two recent attacks. On Nov. 28, the leader of Civil Position party and presidential candidate Anatoliy Grytsenko was assaulted in Odesa, allegedly by hired thugs. The next day, 17 people attacked a construction site, according to Avakov.
This follows a long series of attacks on activists in Ukraine in 2017-2018, many of them in the southern parts of Ukraine including Odesa Oblast.
“The main reason for today’s meeting is a clear increase in the number of violence against public activists in the south of Ukraine and in Odessa Oblast in particular,” the prosecutor general said.
Lutsenko said that the attacks are often connected to illegal businesses: construction, gambling, selling drugs at pharmacy stores. Therefore, the law enforcement agencies will aim to “stop them.”
He said that the numerous open criminal proceedings against these businesses must result in submitting suspicions and sending them to the court.
Lutsenko also admitted the activists in Odesa didn’t get support from local law enforcement in fighting with such businesses.
“The society is fairly critical of our work results,” he said.
Avakov said that “professional raiders-activists have become an indispensable attribute of business and political life of Odesa.”
He said that every political group uses hired fighters, which is the reason why real civic activists suffer, including physically.
According to Avakov, law enforcement officers will be brought to Odesa from other regions of Ukraine to check businesses. This way, according to him, the local heavyweights won’t be able to cozy up to them and bribe them.
