The SSU and the National Police have dismantled another four new schemes of mobilization evasion. Five individuals from different regions of Ukraine were involved in organizing them.

For amounts of up to USD 20,000 they helped military-aged men evade conscription and leave Ukraine using forged documents.

For example, a 35-year-old boxing coach and a student were detained in Kyiv for trying to make money by employing conscripts at a critical infrastructure enterprise.

The company in question is one of the largest printing companies in the region with the right to reserve its employees liable for military service.

The perpetrators used their personal connections in the company to carry out the fraud. The investigation is currently identifying those involved in the crime.

In Khmelnytskyi region, a former deputy head of the regional Territorial Recruitment Center has been notified of suspicion of selling forged certificates of mental health disorder to persons liable for military service.

Later, his ‘clients’ tried to use the documents to write themselves off the military register.

To operate the scheme, the official used personal connections among the officials of the Territorial Recruitment Center and doctors.

In Zaporizhzhia, a local resident was detained ‘red-handed’ when he was taking money for a fictitious conclusion of a Military Medical Commission on unfitness for service.

In Prykarpattia, a 66-year-old businessman was apprehended. He was selling disability certificates through his connections in the Medical and Social Expert Commission. This allowed the evaders to get a deferral from conscription.

The detained individuals have been served notices of suspicion (in accordance with the crimes committed) under several Articles of the CCU:

• 15.2, 332.3 (attempted trafficking of persons across Ukraine’s state border, committed by an organized group);
• 27.5, 368.1 (aiding in the acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an unlawful benefit by an official);
• 369-2.2, 369-2.3 (abuse of influence).

The suspects face up to 9 years in prison with confiscation of property.

The operations were carried out by the SSU Office in Kyiv and Kyiv region, Khmelnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions jointly with the National Police under the procedural supervision of the prosecutor’s offices.