Scheme to evade mobilization through fictitious appointment as chaplain exposed in Kyiv

In Kyiv, National Police officers detained the organizer of a criminal scheme that offered conscripts to avoid military service by obtaining the status of a military chaplain. According to Kyiv.info, the cost of such a service was 25 thousand US dollars.

According to the investigation, the 30-year-old native of Cherkasy region, known in certain circles as an «illegal booking specialist,» was looking for clients who had problems with their military registration. In one of the episodes, the offender offered a man who failed to appear at the Military Commission a job as a military chaplain in one of the military formations.

The offender assured that no special knowledge or specialized education was required to obtain this position. The main advantages of the offer were a complete deferral from conscription and the official possibility of traveling abroad. To complete the paperwork, the «client» was required to provide only the original passport, identification code, and university degree.

The offender was detained by the operatives of the Internal Security Department of the National Police in a procedural order immediately after receiving the reward. Investigators of the Shevchenkivskyi Police Department in Kyiv served him a notice of suspicion of influence peddling and illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine.

The case is currently under the supervision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Prosecutor’s Office of Kyiv. The suspect faces imprisonment for up to nine years with confiscation of property.

Earlier, we reported that the Ivano-Frankivsk City Court ruled to arrest the head of the Uzhhorod-Khust Diocese of the OCU, Kirill Mikhailuk, suspected of organizing a large-scale scheme to issue fake certificates of ordination to the rank of deacon, which allegedly allowed men liable for military service to evade mobilization. A 60-day custody with the possibility of bail was chosen as a measure of restraint for the defendant.