suspicion of corruption
Investigators search 200 Ukrainian recruiting offices
08/22/2023, 8:06 p.m
Not only in Russia do men try to evade military service, also in Ukraine. A far-reaching network of corruption is suspected there. Investigators are therefore conducting raids on 200 offices. President Zelenskyj had previously taken a radical step.
In the course of investigations into corruption, Ukrainian investigators have raided more than 200 military recruiting offices. The investigators had “uncovered large-scale corruption systems in almost all regions of the country,” the prosecutor said on Telegram.
Among other things, officials were bribed to issue a disability card or to classify a person as unfit for work. The bribes would have enabled payers to “delay or avoid military service.”
At the beginning of August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed all heads of the regional offices responsible for recruitment. He denounced a system that allowed conscripts to be smuggled out of the country. After an inspection by the public prosecutor’s office, anti-corruption authorities and the SBU secret service, 112 criminal investigations were initiated, Zelenskyj said. There have been violations in the Donetsk, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Odessa and Kiev regions, among others.
Kiev wants to increase chances of joining the EU
According to the recommendation of the National Security Council, the army chief should select soldiers who have combat experience and have been checked by the secret services to fill the posts, the presidency said.
For its counter-offensive against the Russian invading troops, Kiev had recruited new soldiers from all over the country. The latest raids also illustrate the efforts of the leadership in Kiev to take more consistent action against corruption and bribery in the country. The European Union has made progress in fighting corruption a condition of Ukraine’s bid for EU membership.