A scheme to smuggle draft dodgers into the EU under the guise of musicians has been uncovered in Lviv Oblast
In the Lviv region, law enforcement officials have dismantled a network that was illegally smuggling men subject to military conscription abroad during martial law. According to the investigation, the ringleader entered his clients into the “Shlyakh” system, registering them as members of creative groups or technical staff.
To travel to European Union countries, the men had to pay approximately $12,000. Law enforcement is currently identifying all those involved in organizing the illegal border crossings.
According to law enforcement, a 48-year-old foreign national, who holds a permanent residence permit in Ukraine, turned the men into members of a “cultural delegation” and charged them thousands of dollars for illegally crossing the border.
To conceal his “underground” activities, the foreign national used the “Shlyakh” system. He arranged for fictitious cultural and artistic events to take place in EU countries and, under this pretext, submitted documents to the Ministry of Culture. It is this system that allows certain categories of citizens to legally cross the state border during martial law.
The cost of such a “tour pass” to the European Union as a musician, technical staff member, or even a “sound engineer” for a concert group ranged from $8,000 to $12,000 per person. The amount depended on the urgency of processing the documents and the role the “group member” was to assume.
According to law enforcement officials, this criminal enterprise did not last long. Operatives and investigators caught the organizer “red-handed” in the Lviv region—just as he was receiving a cash deposit from yet another evader planning to leave for Europe.
Following investigative actions, the man was notified of his status as a suspect in organizing the illegal smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine (Part 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Further procedural measures are currently underway to identify all participants in the scheme and possible accomplices. Investigators are also attempting to determine the exact number of men who managed to use the services of the pseudo-producer and flee abroad.
If his guilt is proven in court, the foreign national faces 7 to 9 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
It should be noted that since the start of the full-scale war, law enforcement agencies have regularly uncovered attempts to use the “Shlyakh” system for the illegal departure of men subject to military conscription. Most often, the organizers register men as international truck drivers, volunteers, humanitarian mission workers, or participants in cultural events. The cost of such “services” varies from $8,000 to $30,000 depending on the scheme.
This was reported with reference to the National Police of Ukraine on their Telegram channel.
In the Kyiv region, doctors were caught issuing fake psychiatric diagnoses to draft dodgers.
As a reminder, the organizer of a scheme to smuggle draft dodgers for $12,000 was detained in Kyiv.
Additionally, an employee of the Territorial Recruitment Center in the Chernihiv region was detained for bribery.
