"Following a meeting between Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskyi and Minister of Ecology Ihor Shevchenko, the latter signed an order canceling environmental control of ships’ segregated ballast at checkpoints by the ecological inspectorate," Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian wrote on Facebook.

He also announced that a public discussion of amendments to the decree No. 269 on approval of the rules for protection of inland waters and water bodies from pollution was scheduled to take place in the Ministry of Infrastructure at 16:00 on February 19.

Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskyi recently blocked an attempt by ecologists to create a similar corruption scheme by transferring the function of control over segregated ballast from the State Ecological Inspectorate (the Ministry of Ecology) to the State Sea and River Transport Safety Inspectorate (the Ministry of Infrastructure), thus preventing a "reborn" of the corruption scheme involving performance of this type of control in his ministry.

Pyvovarskyi instructed his deputies and the head of the State Sea and River Transport Safety Inspectorate to prepare a draft Cabinet of Ministers resolution that will eliminate the possibility of creating corrupt schemes by environmental and marine inspectors based on illegal control of segregated ballast of ships in Ukrainian ports.