Kyiv, November 12, 2014. The Kyiv police force and nationalist political party Right Sector are cooperating to combat drug abuse and gambling operations in the neighborhood of Troieschyna. The neighborhood is one of the city’s largest, and is known as a largely underprivileged and isolated district. The Right Sector and police forces will cooperate to close down kiosks illegally selling alcohol, target the illicit drug trade, and shut down illegal gambling operations. This was stated by the Right Sector-linked candidate running as MP for Troieschyna district, Boryslav Bereza, and Kyiv Chief of Police, Oleksandr Tereshchuk during their press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
Both the Right Sector and Kyiv police are hopeful that their cooperation in the Troieschyna district will yield fruitful results in combating the illicit sale of alcohol, drugs, and exposing illegal gambling rings. “We hope to close 62 kiosks which sell alcoholic drinks because their business is illegal,” stated Bereza. The nationalist group says that they are especially concerned about the sale of alcohol and drugs from kiosks that are located near schools. “People started coming to us and requested that we remove kiosks from the vicinity of schools,” he said. The Chief of Police believes combating the drug trade is a top priority, especially when the practice poses a risk to school children. “We want to prevent juvenile crime, when teenagers can buy alcoholic drinks in the neighborhood and then carry out criminal offenses,” said Tereshchuk.
Tereshchuk hopes that operations against illegal kiosks and other practices in the neighborhood will proceed smoothly without much resistance. “Our main objective here is to ensure that this procedure will be carried out smoothly without any forceful actions against opponents,” he said. The operations should help prevent crime in the neighborhood and can serve as an example for extending these actions into other neighborhoods of Kyiv.
