The Security Service and the National Police have blocked five new schemes to evade mobilisation and have exposed eight organisers in several regions of Ukraine.

For sums ranging from USD 2,500 to 8,500, they offered conscripts the chance to dodge conscription through forged documents or helped them flee abroad outside official border crossings.

In Kyiv region, the director of a defence enterprise was exposed for trading in fake certificates for a strategic defence industry facility.

By purchasing such forgeries, those evading conscription hoped to use them during document checks by law enforcement officers and Territorial Recruitment Centres.

To carry out the scheme, the official enlisted two of his acquaintances, who were responsible for finding ‘clients’ and passing the money on to him.

Also in Kyiv region, an individual was detained who had established a channel for the illegal departure of conscripts to the EU. To pass through checkpoints unhindered, the organiser used a certificate of a member of a voluntary territorial community formation as cover.

The suspect was detained whilst attempting to transport a draft dodger from Bila Tserkva towards Ukraine’s western border.

Two further organisers were exposed in Lviv region. One of them turned out to be a member of the commission responsible for considering applications for deferment from military service during mobilisation.

The official, together with her son – a former official at the Territorial Recruitment Centre – helped draft dodgers, for a fee, to draw up documents for guardianship over relatives who supposedly required care.

In Cherkasy, a local resident was detained who, for money, issued fictitious disability certificates to conscripts. He enlisted the help of a doctor from a medical institution and guaranteed influence over the expert commission to establish the relevant disability category.

The organiser of another scheme was a secondary school teacher who, through doctors she knew, issued fake diagnoses to women. They were subsequently granted disability status, which allowed their relatives to evade conscription.

The perpetrators have now been notified of suspicion against them, in accordance with the offences committed, under several Articles of the CCU:

• 332.3 (illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine);
• 27.5, parts 2 and 3 of Art. 368 (aiding and abetting the acceptance of a proposal, promise or receipt of an unlawful benefit by a public official);
• parts 2 and 3 of Article 369-2 (abuse of influence).

The perpetrators face up to 10 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The investigations are ongoing to bring all those responsible to justice.

The operations were carried out under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutors’ Offices.