The National Police are investigating the illegal conscription of nearly 2,500 men subject to military service
The National Police are investigating possible cases of illegal exemption for nearly 2,500 individuals subject to military service. Among the most common schemes is fictitious employment at companies that are authorized to exempt their employees from military service.
According to Tsutsikiridze, these are most often utility companies that are of strategic importance to the country’s economy and security, as well as critical infrastructure enterprises, particularly those in the fuel and energy sector.
It is precisely the status of such enterprises that can serve as a legal basis for reserving employees.
“Most often, these are public utilities that are of strategic importance to the country’s economy and security, as well as critical infrastructure enterprises, particularly those in the fuel and energy sector. It is precisely their status that can serve as a legal basis for reserving employees,” he said.
Currently, as part of criminal investigations, authorities are examining the circumstances surrounding the possible illegal retention of nearly 2,500 men subject to military conscription.
“One common scheme is fictitious employment: a person is registered with a company that has the right to exempt employees from military service, even though they do not actually work there. There are cases where intermediaries organize this for a fee or where false information is entered into information systems and registries.
Such schemes undermine trust in the deferment mechanism itself. When someone buys a spot at a company just to get a deferment, it inevitably casts suspicion on those who actually work there and have a legitimate right to deferment,” explained the acting head of the National Police.
If law enforcement determines that there were no legal grounds for the reservation, the deferment will be revoked.
At the same time, this does not mean automatic mobilization the very next day.
“But this does not mean that a person will automatically be mobilized the next day. They lose this basis for deferment and may subsequently be called up in accordance with the procedure established by law.
There can be no automatism when it comes to accountability either. We determine exactly how a person obtained the deferment, what documents they submitted, whether they participated in an illegal scheme, and who organized that scheme. And depending on the specific actions, the question of administrative or criminal liability is decided,” added Tsutsikiridze.
This was stated by Maxim Tsutsikiridze, acting head of the National Police.
Earlier in Kyiv, law enforcement officials uncovered a large-scale scheme involving the fictitious employment of men subject to military service at private high schools. In exchange for the opportunity to formally secure a teaching position and obtain documents to defer mobilization, the men paid $10,000 in cryptocurrency.
Earlier in Lutsk, police announced that they had served notices of suspicion to a group of officials at one of the lyceums, who are suspected of organizing a scheme to falsely employ men of draft age.
The Novozavodsk District Court of Chernihiv found the director of the separate structural unit “Vocational College of Economics and Technologies of the National University ‘Chernihiv Polytechnic’” guilty of official forgery. According to the court, the official helped men of draft age obtain deferrals from mobilization by issuing fraudulent documents.
