OREANDA-NEWS. August 06, 2015. There should be set up a joint response team with participation of the SSU staff, "to bring to account both for illegal extraction of amber, and to initiate criminal proceedings and prosecute those law enforcement officials and heads of relevant administrations for sheltering and participation in an organized crime group dealing with amber mining", urged Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a Government meeting.

During the session, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov and First Deputy Chairman of the State Fiscal Service Serhii Bilan provided reports on the investigation of cases of illegal amber extraction.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk assessed the efficient activity of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine and the SFS.

The Interior Minister put before the Government a proposal to appeal to the President of Ukraine with a request to dismiss Chairman of Dubrovytsky district state administration of Rivne region, who, according to Arsen Avakov, "led a crowd of those resentful" of response actions by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Fiscal Service, which arrested illegal workers and the illicitly mined amber. The Cabinet of Ministers supported the decision.

However, the Head of Government stressed "it doesn’t just apply to the head of the district administration": "In fact, this scheme is covered by law enforcement authorities, state executive authorities, leadership of the district administration, the Security Service and the Prosecutor's office. All of them comprise an organized crime group, with people in uniform engaged", he stressed.

The Prime Minister appealed to First Deputy Head of the SFS Serhii Bilan, "to control all instituted criminal proceedings to get to court”:" It implies a highly professional work of your investigators, in collaboration with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor's office. The evidence base should be indubitable".