The Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police have shut down new schemes of mobilization evasion: 17 organizers have been detained in several regions of Ukraine.

They sold fake medical certificates of disability or smuggled draft dodgers abroad evading checkpoints. The cost of such ‘services’ reached USD 14,000.

In Donetsk region, the law enforcement apprehended a man for selling electronic escape cards to the EU through the so-called ‘green border’.

The route ran through forest trails and water bodies on the border with a neighbouring EU country.

In Dnipropetrovsk region, an official of a district Territorial Recruitment Center and the head of the local Military Medical Commission were detained for selling fake medical certificates of ‘poor’ health.

They involved an accomplice, who looked for potential ‘clients’.

In Zakarpattia, an individual who provided diving suits to draft evaders and took them across the border river to the EU was detained in Rakhiv district.

In Uzhhorod, three transnational truck drivers were detained for hiding conscripts in the cab of trucks and taking them abroad.

Another seven suspects were exposed in Khust district of the region, including officials of medical institutions and a lawyer. They sold fake medical conclusions to ‘write off’ potential recruits from the military register

A former medical worker and his accomplice were detained in Cherkasy. The head of a pharmaceutical company and his assistant issued fake certificates of serious illnesses for the draft evaders.

The perpetrators have been notified of suspicion under several Articles of the CCU (according to the actions each of them carried out):

• 332.2, 332.3 (illegal transfer of persons across the state border, committed by a group of persons or an official);
• 368.3 (obtaining an unlawful benefit by an official);
• 28.2, 369-2.2 (abuse of influence);
• 366.1 (forgery in office);
• 336 (evasion from military service during mobilization);
• 358.3 (forgery of documents, seals, stamps and forms).

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

The operations were carried out by the SSU regional offices jointly with the National Police and the State Border Guard Service under the procedural supervision of regional prosecutors.