Ukraine Arrests Chief Army Psychiatrist Over ‘Unfounded Assets’ Including Stacks of Cash as Security Service Cracks Down on Draft Dodgers

A senior Ukrainian military officer who had the power to rule on whether conscripts were fit for service has been arrested and will be held for 60 days pending trial, the security services posting images of cash they allegedly discovered on his property.

The Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) continue their massive crackdown on draft dodgers and those behind ‘evasion schemes’ — often corrupt officials taking cash to get exemption papers for conscripts — and have caught up in their net the Chief Psychiatrist of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleh Druz, who was was arrested on Tuesday.

A statement by the Ukrainian internal intelligence agency stated Druz had been arrested over his sudden unexplained wealth, being reckoned to have acquired a million dollars of “unfounded assets” since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. He is said to have bought several properties including a house and apartments across Ukraine and a number of high-end cars.

In addition to those acquisitions, when raided the SBU said they found $152,000 and €34,000 ($35k) in cash. Images shared by the agency show they had laid out the captured U.S. bills laid out on the floor and furniture, a typical feature of criminal gang bust reports from Ukraine’s intelligence forces.

Druz, who has previously been photographed wearing the insignia of a colonel of the Ukrainian army medical corps appeared in court on Wednesday morning in unadorned faitigues and was ordered to 60 days detention in a medical facility pending trial with a $1.1 million dollar bail.

Ukrainian publisher Suspline reports Druz told the court he was not in good health and had suffered a heart attack during his arrest. He stated the now widely-distributed image published by the domestic spy agency of alleged dirty money spread out in his home was a fake.

The SBU noted in their report that Druz was responsible in his role as Chief Psychiatrist of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for ruling on whether individual conscripts were fit for military service or not, the implication appearing to be he may have corruptly used his office to gain exemption certificates for cash, although this has not yet been proven in court.

The arrest of Druz appears to be part of an ongoing anti-draft dodging initiative by the SBU in recent weeks which has seen nationwide raids on individuals who are thought to have failed to answer their call-up papers, and on alleged criminal gangs said to be taking cash in return for getting men out of military service. As reported last week, the National Police of Ukraine had raided 800 addresses nationwide.

As stated then:

While Ukraine has over a million men in its conscription army, thousands of nationals have evaded call-up orders or registration on the national database. As previously reported in 2023, 20,000 military-aged men were known to have illegally crossed Ukraine’s borders by that point to flee abroad.

Ukraine’s border guards said then they had caught another 21,000 at the frontier and brought them back into the country. While many will presumably have fled out of concern for their own lives, attempting to go abroad is not without risks, with the Ukrainian government stating in Spring 2024 that they know of 30 people who died trying to flee the country.

A spokesman for the government said those who died had attempted to get out of Ukraine by trying to cross hazardous mountain passes, swimming border rivers, and in some cases, had even been killed by wild animals in the wilderness, presumably bears, which are common in that part of Europe. Some reportedly have frozen to death trying to cross the Carpathian mountains.

Ukraine’s government claimed the sudden crackdown on draft dodgers has caused “panic” in criminal gangs. In further announcements by the SBU this week, the police were said to have dismantled six “mobilization evasion schemes” on Wednesday, arresting 19. They claimed “The suspects traded in fake medical certificates or smuggled evaders abroad outside checkpoints for money.”

Druz would not be the only Ukrainian military officer charged with aiding draft dodgers. President Zelensky fired every regional head of the military’s recruitment centres in 2023 after officials were caught taking cash for exemptions on an industrial scale. Zelensky said: “This system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery during war is treason”.

Those who were not subsequently found guilty of taking bribes after the entire group were sacked would be expected to “prove their worthiness” by going to the front lines to fight, he said.

Ukraine has recently announced new initiatives to get some of the millions of its citizens who fled abroad at the start of the war to come home. While Kyiv is blunt about its need for soldiers, it also promises exemptions from military service for those who return to work in critical industries, like the power generation network.