A former deputy head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration has been notified of charges related to a scheme to evade mobilization
Law enforcement officials have notified a former district state administration official in Kyiv that he is under suspicion. According to the police, he offered to “resolve issues” at the Territorial Recruitment Center in exchange for bribes of up to 20,000 dollars, providing a wide range of services to help individuals evade military service.
“A Kyiv resident—a former district state administration official—promised to resolve issues at the Military Registration and Enlistment Office in exchange for money: from removing individuals from the wanted list to deregistering them from military records. The price of the service depended on external factors and the complexity of the procedures and could exceed $20,000,” reads a statement on the police website.
According to the investigation, the suspect sought out potential “clients” through his acquaintances via word of mouth, capitalizing on the authority he allegedly gained while serving as deputy head of one of the district state administrations in Kyiv.
“During every conversation, the fraudster emphasized his ability to resolve any issue and boasted of his alleged connections among the ‘right’ people in government agencies, including several military registration and enlistment offices in the capital,” the police said.
According to investigative reports, having a person’s name removed from the wanted list for violating military registration rules cost between $2,000 and $5,000. Arranging a deferment or exemption could cost a “client” between $9,000 and $20,000, while a medical exemption could cost over $20,000.
“In one case, a perpetrator promised to remove a conscript from the wanted list for $3,500. To do this, he was supposed to transfer him and register him at another military registration and enlistment office in the capital, where he allegedly had influence. There, an administrative offense report would have been drawn up against him, followed by the adoption of the ‘necessary’ decision,” law enforcement officials report.
However, the former official later informed the client that the initial agreement was no longer feasible due to the tightening of comprehensive mobilization measures at the recruitment centers. He therefore proposed changing the “approach” to resolving the issue but noted that this would cost an additional $17,500. For this amount, the suspect was supposed to secure employment for the “client” at one of the capital’s state universities. Such a position would have allowed him to be removed from the wanted list and receive a one-year deferment from military service.
Currently, police investigators have notified the suspect of charges under Part 3 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. For abuse of influence, he faces up to eight years in prison with confiscation of property.
The investigation was conducted in cooperation with the SBU’s military counterintelligence unit under the procedural supervision of the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, police clarified.
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