The Security Service, the State Bureau of Investigation, and the National Police have blocked six new mobilisation evasion schemes and detained the organisers several regions of Ukraine.

For sums ranging from USD 2,000 to 15,000, they offered men the opportunity to evade conscription through fictitious documents or helped them flee abroad outside of checkpoints.

In Odesa region, the law enforcement caught a member of one of the city councils red-handed, while receiving bribes from draft dodgers.

The perpetrator, who also held the position of general director at one of the region’s city hospitals and was a member of the military medical commission as a neurologist, sold conscripts fake medical certificates of ‘poor health’.

A lawyer was also detained in this region. He promised to help potential conscripts with fictitious diagnoses of serious illnesses in exchange for money. He tried to involve acquaintances – medical personnel – to help him forge the documents.

In Prykarpattia, the SSU and the SBI detained the deputy head of one of the regional State Emergency Service departments. For bribes, he arranged for draft dodgers to be placed in the local branch of Ukrzaliznytsia to obtain reservations from conscription.

In Kyiv region, a dealer was exposed selling draft dodgers fake documents of citizens of an EU country to be used for leaving Ukraine.

The forger pasted photos of his ‘clients’ into foreign passports and driver’s licenses, the originals of which he obtained through criminal connections abroad.

In Dnipropetrovsk region, two more suspects were detained. They are two residents of Kryvyi Rih who, for money, registered conscripts at a critical infrastructure enterprise with subsequent trip across the border.

In Cherkasy region, the head of a village council department received a notice of suspicion for organising the smuggling of draft dodgers outside Ukraine via mountain trails.

The man used his own car to deliver ‘clients’ to the border and then ‘led’ them by phone as they crossed the mountainous terrain on foot.

The organisers of the schemes have been notified of suspicion under the Articles of the CCU, according to the offences committed:

• 15.3, 332.3 (unfinished attempt to illegally transport persons across the state border of Ukraine);
• 27.5, 368.3 (aiding and abetting in obtaining unlawful benefits by an official);
• 369-2.3 (abuse of influence).

The suspects face up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The operations were carried out by the SSU regional offices under the procedural supervision of prosecutors’ offices.