The SSU has blocked another three channels of illegal departure of Ukrainian men of conscription age to foreign countries.

As a result of special operations in three regions of Ukraine, 9 organizers of illegal traffic were detained.

For money, they promised their ‘clients’ unimpeded travel to the EU using counterfeited documents or ‘bypassing’ checkpoints.

The ‘services’ cost from USD 1,500 to 3,000. The price depended on the distance and urgency of the ‘trip’.

However, thanks to the SSU’s prompt response, over a hundred persons were prevented from leaving illegally.

In Zaporizhzhia region:

The SSU neutralized a criminal group specializing in illegal migration.

The group offered potential conscripts to cross the border using counterfeited documents ‘certifying’ their unfitness for military service.

The organizers also created a fictitious charitable foundation in order to register their ‘clients’ as volunteers and drivers transporting international humanitarian aid.

In Zakarpattia region:

The SSU blocked another channel of illegal departure of draft evaders. This time, the unlawful activity was organized by a local border guard.

The official offered draft evaders his ‘assistance’ in leaving Ukraine outside the checkpoints.

In Ivano-Frankivsk region:

The SSU exposed a local doctor and an official, who ‘issued’ a fictitious disability certificate to a ‘third’ person. With such a ‘document’, their ‘client’ was going to leave Ukraine and accompany this person abroad.

Criminal proceedings were opened under two Articles of the CCU:

• 358 (forgery of documents, seals, stamps and forms, sale or use of forged documents, seals, stamps);
• 332 (illegal transportation of persons across Ukraine’s state border).

Investigations are underway to establish all the circumstances of the offences and bring the involved to justice.

The SSU Offices in Zaporizhzhia, Zakarpattia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions carried out the operations jointly with the National Police under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office.