February 14, 2018 the  Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in  Crimea Boris Babin and his first deputy Izet Gdanov held a meeting on the issues of counteraction to the hauliers who carry out the economic activities in transporting  the passengers without corresponding permitions through the checkpoints “Kalanchak”, “Chaplinka”, “Chongar” to the city of Kherson and other settlements, and also the issues of creation a modern transport network of legal transportations in areas bordering the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in the Crimea was discussed.

The meeting was attended by the leadership of the General Directorate of the SSU in the ARC, the Azov-Black Sea Regional Directorate of State Border Service of Ukraine, the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kherson Oblast, the Black Sea Interregional Directorate of UkrtransSecurity, the Genichesk and Kalanchatsky District State Administrations, representatives of Kherson Regional State Administration, the SSU Office in Kherson Oblast , The Main Directorate of the National Police in the ARC and the city of Sevastopol.

The participants of the meeting discussed the extremely negative current state of affairs with road transportation in the districts of the Kherson region, nearby Crimea. In particular, it was stated that during the years of the temporary occupation of the Crimea in areas close to the peninsula self-organized uncontrolled, ramified system of illegal carriage of traffic through the checkpoints, located on the administrative boundary line within  Crimea to another territory of Ukraine, as well as to / from Crimea to the controlled territory of Ukraine .

Representatives of the SSU stressed that such a system has all the signs of organized crime, and has already led to  large-scale corruption risks in the activities of executive authorities and also significant counter-intelligence and security risks

Also there was stated the lack of control by the Black Sea Interregional Department of UkrtransSecurity  regarding compliance with transport legislation and, at the same time, the need of strengthen   law enforcement support for appropriate control measures in the context of organized crime in the field of road transport, which actually took place in areas close to Crimea.

One of the conditions for the current negative situation was the continued non-announcement of competitions by the district and regional state administrations for the corresponding bus routes in demand directions in the required number. It was stated that the existing intra-regional and inter-district routes in terms of passenger traffic clearly do not correspond to the number of persons crossing the Checkpoints. There was a clear need to build the necessary transport infrastructure in order to ensure, in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, the proper quality of service for passenger transportation on the bus routes in these areas within the region

On the proposal of the Security Service of Ukraine  in the ARC, supported by the Delegation, in the framework of the implementation of the decrees of the President of Ukraine in the field of counterintelligence activities, it was decided to establish an interdepartmental working group on counteracting the risks connected with illegal traffic from / to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.

It was also decided to carry out work on strengthening state supervision (control) on safety in road transport,  constantly monitor the situation with illegal carriers and take  measures to counteract their activities, in particular involving representatives of all competent law enforcement agencies and UkrtransSecurity  staff from other regions of Ukraine .

According to the results of the meeting,  there were reached an agreement on the necessity to create a concept for the formation of a modern transport network in the regions of Ukraine adjacent to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in the Crimea by the Kherson regional state administration within a week, based on the summary of the proposals made by the involved state authorities and local self-government bodies, followed by urgent announcements competitions on the corresponding intra-regional and intra-regional routes.