Eight new schemes involving bribes to facilitate illegal emigration have been dismantled in Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with the State Bureau of Investigation and the National Police, conducted a large-scale special operation that resulted in the disruption of eight new channels used for the illegal departure of men abroad and evasion of mobilization. The cost of such “services” reached $25,000 per person.
This was reported by the SBU press center.
In the Kyiv and Rivne regions, an organized network was uncovered, consisting of two organizers and seven doctors. They registered men for fictitious inpatient treatment, which subsequently allowed them to obtain a Group II or III disability status.
A similar scheme was dismantled in the Lviv region. There, the head of the medical service at a military unit forged the conclusions of the military medical commission regarding unfitness for service. Along with her, nine men who took advantage of this scheme were placed under suspicion.
Law enforcement officials also documented other smuggling routes:
- in the Boryspil district, a bank driver used business trips as a cover to drive men to the border;
- in Zaporizhzhia, a contract soldier and an accomplice used a service vehicle to transport draft dodgers;
- in the Kharkiv region, a former director of a rehabilitation center offered routes to the EU via Belarus;
- in the Poltava region, a lawyer who helped remove men from military registration was detained, as well as a local resident who sold fake “reservations”;
- In Zakarpattia, two border guards were caught accepting bribes to let cars carrying draft dodgers pass through checkpoints.
The suspects have already been notified of charges under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, including illegal transportation of persons across the border, forgery of documents, receiving unlawful benefits, and obstructing the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
If found guilty, the perpetrators face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. The investigation is ongoing, and law enforcement officials are identifying all those involved in these schemes.
It should be noted that organizers of schemes for illegally crossing Ukraine’s state border operate not only in border regions but throughout the country and even abroad.
Recently, operatives from the Department of Strategic Investigations dismantled an illegal border-crossing channel organized by a Kyiv resident through fictitious international music tours. The businesswoman submitted lists of band members to the relevant ministry, ostensibly for participation in charity performances in support of Ukraine.
As a reminder, a foreign national will stand trial in Kyiv for selling counterfeit temporary military service certificates to conscripts for $5,500, falsely stating they were unfit for service due to health reasons.
The Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office reported that the head of the psychiatric ward at a Kyiv hospital will face trial in the capital for issuing false diagnoses to draft dodgers in exchange for money.
