SSU, State Bureau of Investigation and National Police have uncovered 10 schemes to evade mobilisation in five regions. PHOTOS
Law enforcement officers have dismantled a further 10 schemes for evading military service in various regions of Ukraine and arrested 13 organisers. The cost of these ‘services’ ranged from 2,500 to 30,000 US dollars.
According to Censor.NET, this information was reported by the SSU press centre.
The perpetrators helped men evade mobilisation, facilitated the illegal discharge of military personnel from service, and organised the illegal smuggling of draft dodgers across the state border.
Mykolaiv region
The head of the children’s affairs department at one of the city councils in the Voznesensk district has been exposed for promising, in exchange for 2,500 dollars, to help serving military personnel be ‘discharged’ from military service.
According to the case file, the suspect helped clients to draw up the necessary documents for guardianship over relatives who allegedly required constant care. To carry out his scheme, the perpetrator used his personal connections at the district military registration and enlistment office.
Furthermore, in the Mykolaiv region, the SSU and the National Police detained a mechanic-driver from a military unit who had demanded up to 16,000 US dollars from the relatives of military personnel in exchange for their unlawful discharge from service on grounds of "poor health". To carry out the scheme, the suspect planned to utilise his personal connections amongst officials at the Medical Examination Commission.
Vinnytsia region
In Vinnytsia, SBU officers, in cooperation with the National Police, exposed two fraudsters who, for 4,000 US dollars, promised to use their personal connections at the Territorial Military Commissariat and the Military Registration and Enlistment Office to "resolve the issue" of conscripts evading mobilisation.
A fraudster was also arrested in the city who, for 10,000 US dollars, was selling men forged medical certificates with ‘serious diagnoses’ to secure a deferment from conscription.
To this end, he enlisted the help of acquaintances among members of the expert teams assessing a person’s daily functioning (formerly the Medical and Social Expert Commission) to produce fictitious medical certificates for those evading conscription, with the aim of subsequently assigning them disability categories.
In addition, criminal activity by a man originally from Dnipro has been documented in the regional centre; for a fee, he organised the illegal ‘transfer’ of conscripts across Ukraine’s western border.
It has been established that, to carry out the scheme, the perpetrator enlisted the help of an accomplice who is currently outside the country. The trafficker ‘priced’ this service at 8,000 US dollars.
Chernivtsi region
In Chernivtsi, cyber experts from the Security Service, in collaboration with the National Police, exposed an employee of a local pre-school education institution who, for 10,000 US dollars, enlisted the help of doctors she knew to arrange for draft dodgers to be registered for fictitious ‘inpatient treatment’.
Subsequently, conscripts were unjustifiably assigned a disability category and granted the status of unfit for military service.
Lviv region
Another organiser of a network illegally smuggling conscripts across the border has been detained in the Lviv region.
He turned out to be a resident of the Sambir district who, for 11,000 euros, used his own car to transport ‘passengers’ to a designated location near the state border and briefed them on how to cross it illegally on foot outside of border crossing points.
Also in the region, a State Border Guard Service inspector is to stand trial based on evidence from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR).
For 30,000 US dollars, the official promised conscripts that he would arrange the necessary documents for their unhindered departure to the EU via border crossing points. Furthermore, during searches of the suspect’s premises, a hand-held anti-personnel grenade was discovered, which he had been illegally storing in his own car.
In Lviv, the director and head of a department at the city council’s dental clinic were exposed for organising fictitious employment for conscripts, followed by ‘exemption’ from mobilisation.
For 5,500 US dollars, they falsely ‘employed’ ‘clients’ as doctors and added them to the list of staff with ‘immunity’ from conscription.
Ivano-Frankivsk region
SBU cyber experts, in cooperation with the National Police, have put a stop to the illegal activities of two officials at the district military registration and enlistment office.
The head of the department and a branch operator were deleting data on breaches of military registration from the electronic register of conscripts, thereby removing draft dodgers from the wanted list. They also entered false information claiming that men had completed military service, resulting in their removal from the register of those liable for military service.
What punishment do they face?
SBU officers documented the suspects’ unlawful activities and detained them.
They have now been notified of the charges against them in accordance with the offences committed under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Part 3 of Article 332 (illegal smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine);
- Parts 1 and 3 of Article 362 (unauthorised handling of information processed in electronic systems);
- Part 1 of Article 368 (receipt of unlawful benefits by a public official);
- Article 28(2), Articles 369-2(2) and (3) (abuse of influence combined with the extortion of an unlawful benefit, committed by a group of persons acting in collusion);
- Article 114-1(1) (obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations);
- Article 263(1) (unlawful handling of weapons, ammunition and explosive substances).
The suspects face up to nine years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.
Investigations are ongoing to establish all the circumstances of the unlawful activities and identify any other possible participants in the schemes.
