The SSU and police have dismantled 11 new schemes for smuggling draft dodgers abroad

The SSU and police have dismantled 11 new schemes for smuggling draft dodgers abroad

In various regions of Ukraine, 11 more schemes have been uncovered, with organizers profiting from the reluctance of draft evaders to serve. For sums ranging from 2,500 to 17,000 US dollars, the perpetrators offered to avoid conscription through forged documents or facilitated illegal border crossings outside official checkpoints.

The illegal activities were exposed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), the National Police, and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). As reported by the SSU press service, 23 organizers of the schemes were detained; the suspects face up to 9 years in prison with confiscation of property.

Kyiv

In the capital, law enforcement officers apprehended two local residents who were selling "reservations" for military-eligible individuals. The perpetrators arranged for their clients to be employed at critical infrastructure enterprises, allowing them to leave Ukraine under the guise of a "business trip."

Poltava Region

Three schemes were blocked there simultaneously. Among the detained are two lawyers with accomplices, as well as a local operator, who removed draft evaders from wanted lists at Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRCs) and helped them be discharged from military registration based on fictitious medical diagnoses.

To implement the "scheme," the organizers used acquaintances among doctors and military enlistment office officials.

Ivano-Frankivsk Region

Six locals were exposed for organizing the escape of military-eligible individuals to the European Union through a border park. Three of the suspects worked in the administration of a Ukrainian nature reserve.

According to case materials, the offenders initially escorted "tourists" to the border in their own vehicles and then guided them across to the neighboring country via mountain trails.

The National Police clarified that the cost of these "services" was 8,000 euros per person. Police officers detained the perpetrators while receiving another payment.

The State Border Guard Service also reported on the disruption of a channel for illegally smuggling violators to Romania.

During searches of six individuals from Bukovyna, over 930,000 hryvnias, four off-road vehicles, five units of unregistered weapons, phones, and bank cards were seized. The suspects, charged under Part 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, have been placed in custody as a preventive measure.

Cherkasy Region

A deputy dean of one of the universities was exposed for arranging draft evaders to enroll at her institution for bribes. During the current year, she illegally earned nearly half a million hryvnias from this activity.

Additionally, in the region, the head of a local branch of the Social Protection Fund for Persons with Disabilities was detained for offering conscripts deferments based on guardianship over individuals with severe diagnoses.

To produce fake documents, she involved the head of a social protection department in one of the region’s village councils. Most clients were residents of Sumy Region, found through acquaintances.

Zhytomyr Region

SBU counterintelligence detained a 39-year-old security guard from a Kyiv-based enterprise who organized a "transfer" for draft evaders to the European Union through the so-called green border.

Two more channels for conscripts fleeing to EU countries outside checkpoints were blocked by SBU military counterintelligence together with the SBI. Five organizers, including the head of a charitable foundation and an employee of a Kharkiv correctional facility, were detained.

Dnipro Region

SBU military counterintelligence and the SBI also detained a former soldier from Dnipro who offered a bribe to the command of a regiment where he previously served. For money, he attempted to arrange the escape of an acquaintance mobilized from a restricted facility.

As of October 1, all detainees received suspicion notices based on the crimes committed under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

• Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 114-1 (obstructing the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy);
• Parts 2, 3 of Article 332 (illegal smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine);
• Part 1 of Article 366 (official forgery);
• Part 3 of Article 369-2 (abuse of influence).