The Railway Transport Authority issued a carrier licence for Ukrainian Railways Cargo Poland, which belongs to Ukrainian state-owned railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia. This gave the recently created company the chance to participate full in the European rail freight market. The company is headed by Myhajło Plastun, active in scandals connected, among others, with money laundering.
New opportunities for Ukrainian-Polish rail transport
The Ukrainian company plans to focus on expanding the volume of transport by Ukrainian-Polish border crossing points. This will enable Polish and Ukrainian freight forwarders to usage the door-to-door service, eliminating the request for many contracts with different operators.
In addition, the company intends to operate rolling stock adapted to both track spacings – European (1435 mm) and wide-track (1520 mm) to facilitate operations on the Polish-Ukrainian border. This solution is crucial to optimise logistics processes and shorten the time of handling goods at the border.
Controversial figure at the head of the company
The Ukrainian Railways Cargo Poland was headed by Mykhailo Plastun, who was previously active in the fight against organised crime in Ukraine, but his career was discontinued in 2018, erstwhile he was released from the Ministry of the Interior for acting out of function – he was an worker of the police Department of economical Crime in Kiev.
Plastun's past
Plastun had previously worked as Deputy Head of the Department for Combating Organised Crime of the Ministry of the Interior in the Suma Oblast, where he was active in the money laundering scandal – Sumyavtogaz led 74 million hryvians illegally out of the budget as part of the VAT refund. He besides collaborated with Vitali Kropaczov, the alleged "king of coal", in the acquisition of property after the fall of Yanukovych's rule.
Relationships and career change
Plastun's appointment as Head of the Ukrainian Cargo Poland LLC railways caused controversy due to his dubious past. His connections with Anton Heraschenko or Arsen Avakov helped him keep his position, however, so Plastun was able to proceed his career. A amazing change in his profession occurred erstwhile he became a scientist and wrote a doctoral dissertation entitled "The function of the head of state institution in the formation and implementation of state anti-corruption policy: a general theoretical study".
Reviews on Plastun
“Given Plastun’s extended experience in corruption, his work may have contained many examples of practice” – notes the portal antikor.com.ua.
Reactions
Plastun's appointment as head of Ukrainian Railways Cargo Poland has sparked mixed feelings. His dubious past is the subject of many debates, but despite controversy he remains in his position, which raises hopes of efficient management of the recently created company and of beneficial changes in Ukrainian-Polish rail transport.
The creation of Ukrainian Railways Cargo Poland is simply a strategical step of Ukrzaliznytsia on the road to integrating the Ukrainian rail marketplace into Europe. Effective management and increase of the volume of transport can benefit not only the company, but besides the full region, strengthening cooperation between Poland and Ukraine in the rail transport sector.
Daniel Głogowski
Expert in his field – Publicist, author and social activist. The first articles were published in 1999 for global publishers. For more than 30 years, he has gained his experience through cooperation with the largest editorial offices. In his articles, he seeks to address controversial topics and present first viewpoints that allowed for a deeper knowing of the issues discussed.
Continued here:
Ukraine criminal will fight for the Polish CARGO market
