The Security Service and the National Police have blocked five new draft-dodging schemes and detained their organisers.

For sums from USD 5,000 to 35,000, they offered conscripts a way to evade mobilisation through forged documents or helped them flee abroad.

In the Kyiv region, the deputy head of an NGO was detained for smuggling draft dodgers into a neighbouring country by bypassing checkpoints.

The law enforcement detained the suspect at a local gas station, where he was supposed to pick up a ‘client’ and drive him to the western border, and from there, through forest trails, out of Ukraine.

In the Lviv region, three members of a military medical commission at a local Territorial Recruitment Centre, including a psychiatrist, a neurologist, and a surgeon, were caught in a mobilisation evasion scheme. The doctors falsified the men’s diagnoses and forged medical certificates stating ‘poor health’ to grant them deferrals from conscription.

In the Zhytomyr region, a local serviceman and an employee of a Territorial Recruitment Centre from Volyn were detained for organising an illegal ‘transfer’ of draft dodgers to the EU.

The traffickers hired private transporters for their ‘clients’ to take them to the western border. From there, the draft dodgers were to make their way across the border through forested areas.

In the Cherkasy region, a real estate agent was exposed for offering conscripts the opportunity to fraudulently obtain a Group 2 disability certificate.

To produce the fake documents, he planned to enlist the help of acquaintances who were members of the expert team assessing a person’s daily functioning (formerly MSEC).

In the Vinnytsia region, two more dealers were detained, also selling fake disability certificates. The perpetrators turned out to be an employee of a confectionery factory and his accomplice, a local entrepreneur.

The suspects used the forgeries themselves to evade military service and later sold them en masse through their acquaintances.

The individuals involved in the schemes have been notified of their status as suspects in connection with the crimes committed under the Articles of the CCU:

• 28.2, 114-1.1 (obstruction of the lawful activities of the AFU, during a special period, committed by a group, by prior conspiracy);
• 332.3 (illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine);
• 358.3 (sale of knowingly forged official documents, committed by a group, by prior conspiracy);
• 366.1 (official forgery);
• 369-2.2 (abuse of influence).

The perpetrators face up to 9 years in prison and confiscation of property.

The operations were carried out under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Offices.