The Cabinet of Ministers proposes to the Verkhovna Rada to impose a prison sentence of up to 5 years for violation of the term of stay abroad by those liable for military service. The relevant bill No. 13673 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on August 21, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
In particular, the Cabinet of Ministers proposes to the Verkhovna Rada to introduce criminal liability for violation of the term of stay abroad by a conscripts, those liable for military service or reservists established by law.
It is proposed to punish intentional violation of the term of stay abroad by a fine of two thousand to three thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 34,000 - UAH 51,000) or imprisonment for a term of three to five years.
At the same time, it is proposed to establish that a person is exempted from criminal liability if he or she returned to the territory of Ukraine within a month from the end of the established period of stay outside Ukraine and, before being notified of the suspicion of committing this criminal offense, voluntarily reported what happened to a law enforcement agency.
The bill also proposes to establish criminal liability for illegal crossing of the state border during martial law or a state of emergency outside state border checkpoints.
In the explanatory note to the bill, the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko notes that due to the military aggression against Ukraine and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, the number of attempts to illegally cross the state border to leave Ukraine by male citizens of Ukraine liable for military service (conscripts, reservists) aged 18 to 60 has sharply increased.
If in 2021 border guards recorded just over 3,000 illegal crossings of the state border of Ukraine, then in 2022 such offenses more than doubled, in 2023 there were almost 10,000, in 2024 there were over 20,000, and in the first quarter of this year almost 4,678 military personnel (conscripts, reservists) were detained, which is 10% more than in the same period last year (4,539 people).
Currently, military personnel (conscripts, reservists) can only be held administratively liable for illegally crossing the state border of Ukraine.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Cabinet of Ministers is preparing a decision on allowing men under 22 to travel abroad.
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