Ukraine to develop comprehensive plan to combat organized crime for 2025

This was reported by Ukrinform, citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs' (MIA) Communication Department.

An agreement on this was reached during an interagency meeting with representatives from the MIA, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), the Prosecutor General's Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the State Bureau of Investigations, the Bureau of Economic Security, and other agencies.

According to Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Oleksii Serhieiev, the current Strategy to Combat Organized Crime is being implemented in three stages, running until 2025: assessment of the threats posed by serious crimes and organized crime (SOCTA Ukraine); identification of a limited number of strategic goals based on the conclusions of this threat assessment; and the development of a comprehensive action plan and its subsequent implementation.

The issue of combating organized crime will be discussed next week during Ukraine's EU accession negotiations under the chapter ‘Justice, Freedom, and Security’, the MIA informed.

Mykola Hrintsov, Director of the Department for Interaction with the National Police at the MIA, noted that this year, as part of the strategy, an interagency analytical group conducted an assessment of serious organized crime threats following a government resolution and submitted a report to the Cabinet of Ministers and the NSDC.

He added that in August, the MIA, as part of its strategic tasks, developed and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law on establishing an Interagency Coordination Commission on Combating Organized Crime (National Coordinator).

Meanwhile, NSDC official Oksana Markieieva highlighted the importance of analyzing risks that will be especially relevant in the post-war period to enhance the fight against organized crime.

She suggested that this analysis should involve sectoral experts both from Ukraine and international partners specializing in post-conflict countries.

It was noted that the meeting participants agreed on the necessity of developing a unified comprehensive action plan for 2025 within the framework of the current Strategy and expressed readiness to submit proposals from each agency soon.

As reported by Ukrinform, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko recently announced the dismantling of a drug cartel in Ukraine that was producing nearly a ton of amphetamine and Alpha-PVP each month.