Moscow university professors caught selling draft exemption certificates

Professors of Moscow’s Synergy University have been caught selling draft exemption certificates to men evading mobilisation, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing the university’s press service. This information was also reported by the Moscow Municipal News Agency, which cited police sources, and Kommersant newspaper, which quoted the prosecutor general’s office.

“The management of the Synergy University has detected unscrupulous employees who were presumably selling draft exemption certificates for those wishing to evade partial mobilisation,” the press service said.

Sources of the Moscow Municipal News Agency have stated that 800 men were accepted to the university to get the corresponding certificate and evade mobilisation. The Moscow prosecutor’s office and the main police directorate carried out an inspection at the university.

“It was determined that they charged 180,000 rubles (€2,950) for a certificate at the university,” the agency source said.

Kommersant reports that several university professors were charged with fraud. Searches were carried out at the university and in the homes of the professors involved. The information on students who wished to evade mobilisation using this scheme was handed over to draft offices, the newspaper writes.

In early October, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order introducing draft exemptions for full-time university students, postgraduate students, medical residents, and students of religious educational organisations.