The Security Service and the National Police have blocked seven new draft-dodging schemes and detained their organisers in several regions of Ukraine.

For sums ranging from 2,500 to 13,000 Euros, the operators offered men the chance to evade conscription through forged documents or facilitated their escape abroad outside of official border crossings.

In the Chernivtsi and Ternopil regions, three individuals, who forged serious medical diagnoses and arranged for draft dodgers to be ‘transferred’ outside Ukraine, have been exposed.

The organiser of the illegal activity is a resident of Bukovina. He enlisted a physician he knew, who specialised in tuberculosis, to forge medical reports, as well as a real estate agent from Ternopil who acted as an intermediary for meetings with ‘clients’ and the hand-over of bribes.

In the Kirovohrad region, a local businessman was notified of his status as a suspect for creating a fake college to ‘reserve’ draft dodgers in teaching positions or as students.

The fictitious university has been shut down. Additionally, previously granted unfounded deferments from conscription for 30 individuals have been revoked.

In Zakarpattia, the law enforcement agencies exposed two traffickers who were smuggling conscripts into the EU under the guise of transborder freight drivers.

A resident of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast was caught red-handed in the region while transporting draft evaders to the western border and guiding them on a route to flee to a neighbouring country across the Tisa River.

In the Odesa region, one of the suspects used the Internet to recruit individuals seeking to evade mobilisation and offered them routes for illegally crossing the state border outside of checkpoints.

Also in the region, an individual was detained for transporting men to the border area for their subsequent escape. He was caught in the act while transporting another ‘client’ toward the western border.

The perpetrators have now been notified of suspicion under several Articles of the CCU:

• 114-1.1 (obstructing 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);
• 368.3 (obtaining unlawful benefits).

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

The operations were carried out jointly with the State Border Guard Service under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Offices.