The Security Council did not support the merger of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and the State Inspectorate for Protection of Wildlife and Flora. Aliaksandr Lukashenka said this at a meeting today to discuss a number of draft regulations.
Aliaksandr Lukashenka had previously spoken about such a proposal when appointing the new head of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“In the challenging area of nature protection and control over the use of natural resources, these structures work in a coordinated and seemingly successful manner: they uncover criminal schemes and prevent various kinds of violations. For example, poaching has been reduced to a minimum in our country.
But my impression is that apart from poaching, the system does not really deal with anything else. And this includes protecting our nature. Here, we need to get fully involved, because it is indeed our heritage. In the center of a vast civilization, not only in the center of Europe but on the Eurasian continent – the cleanest corner of the planet.
The relevant inspectorate must not only fight poachers, but also those who are accustomed to littering and damaging the environment. Both the Ministry of Natural Resources and the inspectorate are falling short here. So there is no need to say that we have solved everything. There are plenty of problems that need to be addressed. Go into the forest, especially around Minsk, and see what is happening. In the challenging area of nature protection and control over the use of natural resources, these structures need to do more”, he said today.
Lukashenka himself does not appear to see any obstacles to such a merger, but, according to him, not all state bodies share this view.
“At the same time, I know that the State Secretariat of the Security Council did not support this initiative. Let us hear their view”, he said.
It should be recalled that the State Inspectorate currently reports directly to Lukashenka. It is proposed that it be transferred under the authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources. It should be noted that the inspectorate has been headed since 2018 by Yury Tertel, the brother of KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel.
