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According to the EU statistics agency Eurostat, however, more than 650,000 Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 64 are registered as refugees in the 27 EU countries and in Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Ukrainian authorities are considering obtaining the extradition of illegally departed conscripts from EU and other countries.
Since the Russian invasion began more than 18 months ago, Ukraine's border guards say they have prevented more than 20,000 conscripts from escaping the country. "In total, the border guards have arrested around 14,600 people who wanted to leave Ukraine illegally since February 24 last year," said border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko on news television. In addition, around 6,200 men were caught with forged exit permits.
Many Ukrainians try to evade military service. Fugitives were mainly picked up at the "green border" to Romania and the Republic of Moldova, said Demchenko. It is mainly about men between the ages of 18 and 60 years. The authorities had already announced that at least 19 men had drowned in the Tyssa (Theiss) river alone, which separates Ukraine from Romania and Hungary. Some also froze to death escaping through the Carpathians."
2.3 Kolomoisky’s assets seized by NABU
Ukraine’s leading anti-corruption organisations, The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO), have seized the assets of jailed oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky in connection with charges brought against him of embezzling hundreds fomns of dollars while he was still owner of PrivatBank, Interfax Ukraine reported on September 8.
NABU and SAPO, which are nominally independent of the government and supposed to spearhead the fight against corruption, have seized the assets under the authority of the NABU director, and with the agreement of the SAPO head.
Shares in a total of 307 legal entities, including joint-stock companies, with an estimated combined value exceeding UAH 3bn ($81mn) of numerous companies owned directly or indirectly by Kolomoisky have been arrested.
In addition almost 1,000 real estate properties and over 1,600 vehicles and vessels have been seized.
Kolomoisky was arrested last weekend on tax evasion and fraud charges by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), which is under the direct control of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The initial charges were a relatively modest accusation of tax fraud of only $14mn. However, once in jail NABU brought the much more serious charges of embezzling over $250mn from PrivatBank in what will prove to be a landmark anti-corruption case.
Kolomoisky is one of Ukraine’s richest and most powerful oligarchs and has been able to act with impunity for the last several years. Zelenskiy is under pressure to show his international partners that he is fighting corruption if Ukraine has any chance of raising the tens of billions of dollars from the private sector should the war with Russia come to an end.
10 UKRAINE Country Report October 2023 www.intellinews.com