Dnipro: Migration Service Officials Fabricated 'Foreigners' to Smuggle Men Out of Ukraine

In Dnipro, a scheme has been uncovered where two State Migration Service (SMS) officials abused their positions to create fake records of non-existent foreigners. According to the Eastern Region Specialized Defense Prosecutor's Office, the suspects, acting in prior conspiracy, entered deliberately false information into the Unified Information and Analytical System for Migration Process Management (UIAS MPM) regarding two non-existent aliens. The chief specialist prepared and signed fake decisions on forced return and forced removal from Ukraine for persons who did not actually exist. The former head of the department, knowing there were no legal grounds for these decisions, approved them, affixed the official seal and a qualified electronic signature, thereby granting them official status. Subsequently, false personal data, including photographs belonging to two Ukrainian men subject to military service, were entered into the subsystem "Registration of Foreigners and Refugees." This created fictitious electronic records and information about allegedly adopted decisions on their expulsion from Ukraine. According to the investigation, this enabled the identification of the two Ukrainian citizens with the non-existent foreigners, facilitating their illegal border crossing while evading restrictions on the exit of military-liable men during martial law. During searches, mobile phones, flash drives, a computer system unit, logs of decisions on forced return and removal, administrative offense files, and documents concerning one Ukrainian citizen and two fictitious citizens of Azerbaijan were seized. Among them were decisions on forced return and removal, administrative offense protocols, penalty orders, identity certificates, explanations, fine payment receipts, personal files, and other documents. The suspects have been placed under house arrest; the prosecutor has appealed this ruling.