Member of Zelensky's Office: Ukraine turns into 'world hub' for smuggling cigarettes to Europe

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk says the country has turned into a 'world hub' for smuggling cigarettes to Europe, which affects Ukraine's image in the European Union.

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"We will try to share only some views on how it looks from the outside. So, it looks like Ukraine has become a world hub for the supply of illegal cigarettes to Europe. Illegal tobacco goods are being supplied from China and the [United Arab] Emirates via Odesa, as well as from Belarus, Moldova, and non-government-controlled areas [in Donbas] via Ukraine, like through the wild land, to Europe. Whether our European counterparts will respect us after that and whether we will be able to count on a normal conversation with them is a rhetorical question," he said at a meeting of President Zelensky with customs officers in Uzhgorod on July 6.

According to Honcharuk, the country's officials are aware of smuggling channels and its varieties.

"How do we see it? The major share of smuggling is fraud, when a person transports one thing, but declares something else. According to our unofficial estimates, fakes account for about 40% of smuggling. Some 25% is the so-called 'zelenka,' that is smuggling by rivers, tunnels, and across the 'outback' border. Crossing the border by a large group of people (so-called "jackets"), [who in parts carry a lot of goods as hand luggage] accounts for about 20%, as well as cargo customs processing of trucks as empty, although they are filled [with goods]," he said.