My mission is to fill the budget, inter alia to meet the social needs and ensure proper financing of army - Prime Minister about the "Ukraine without smuggling" initiative

The essential objective of the "Ukraine without smuggling" initiative of the Government is to fill the state budget aimed to, apart from other things, provide appropriate financing for social issues and the army. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman, commenting on rumors about the alleged desire to wield influence on the customs.

"Someone is trying to tell a story that Groysman is struggling for the influence on the customs. I am struggling for the only thing - for filling the state budget. This is essential to better finance the army, the needs of children, medicine, retirees, roads. The answer is simple: I'm fighting to fill the budget in synergy with my colleagues from the Government, the Interior Ministry, the SFS and others."

The Head of Government provided statistics demonstrating a growing trend in revenues in June. For instance, in the Odessa Customs offices alone revenues for each container - depending on the kind of product - increased USD 5,000 to 10,000. For certain categories of products, revenues doubled. The total amount of funds from customs clearance throughout a week - from June 20 to June 26 – made up UAH 498 million for 1112 containers.

"It has brought on hysteria in a number of offices - the "dirty money" flow was halted. Someone is ready for radical things to regain it. Meanwhile, the money belong to citizens. None can force me to turn a blind eye to smuggling. Don’t try to shut my eyes - stop the smuggling", said Volodymyr Groysman.

He stressed that any attempts to "come to terms" with Government officials and law enforcement officers in this issue would be a failure. The only solution is to ensure transparent customs clearance of goods in line with the law and work for the benefit of the State.