Special Forces detain armed artisanal miners who illegally dug amber from protected swamps in Rivne region - Ukraine's interior minister
KYIV. July 13 (Interfax) - Special Forces seized a group of artisanal miners equipped with weapons and armored cars in an operation to suppress illegal amber digging in the swamps of Ukraine's Rivne Nature Reserve.
The illegal miners exhibited resistance to the law enforcement forces. "A few days ago, when the Dnipro 1 special forces unit patrolled this area of swamps, which is the most remote from populated areas, with unmanned aerial vehicles, an illegal 'Klondike of amber miners' was discovered in the natural reserve. The drones then came under fire. Two of the three were shot down [...] This is not theater of war [...] Many armed people and a horrific picture of devastated wildlife in the natural reserve could be seen on the footage, as well as ... armored vehicles," Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
Avakov went on to reveal that in the early hours of Wednesday, National Police special forces reached far islands in the Rivne Natural Reserve (Rokytne district, Rivne region, Ukraine), which actually represent foul marshes, and spotted there a group of illegal artisanal miners who maintained resistance to the special security force. One MTLB multi-purpose armored vehicle was confiscated and several individuals were seized by police, he said.
However, Avakov noted that the entrepreneurs, who had organized the illegal scheme of digging and distributing amber, are nudging local residents to press for the release of the detained "black [illegal] diggers" under the mottos like "Win back our mates and our armored cars!"
Therefore, Avakov called on people not to be provoked, emphasizing the commitment of police to suppress mass riots.
"I will tell you preemptively: People, do not succumb to provocations of bandits! Our commitment to restore legal order in "Klondikes" is steady. No more devastated nature, no more slave labor, no more amber lords with their own code, own army and own vassals. The Interior Ministry won't tolerate the bandit power of banana or amber baronies within Ukraine! Police action will continue in this amber digging mob," Avakov wrote.
Avakov underlined that some additional National Guard and police forces will be deployed in the place of disorders, should the latter begin. "The police operations will continue," he said.
Avakov expressed hope for a prompt introduction of amber digging legal regulation in Ukraine. "I very much expect that new legislation will be swiftly proposed (I know that nearly everything is ready for it) by my fellow ministers, the one that adequately regulates extraction of amber!! It's urgent," Avakov said.